I Hate Space
by Fihi
Summary: What's the most terrifying thing about space? It's not the creepy alien monster on that planet, or the unexplainable black hole in this galaxy. It's how far apart, infinite, yet connected it is. How very little it takes to get lost in it forever. – Raph definitely knows. (2012, space arc, psychological thriller)
1. The City of Neon and Smog

**.xX. I Hate Space .Xx.**

 _Summary:_

 _What's the most terrifying thing about space? It's not the creepy alien monster on that planet, or the unexplainable black hole in this galaxy. It's how far apart, infinite, yet connected it is. How very little it takes to get lost in it forever. – Raph definitely knows._

Hello and welcome to a sci-fi, Ninja Turtles, multi-chapter story I, _WinterHeath (edit: now Fihuli)_ _,_ am proudly presenting!

This story had started developing two and a half years ago when the 2012 series space arc was still fresh in our minds. It is a kind of response to my disappointment with that arc; and to a whacky dream I had that turned into a simple but fun plot idea.

This fanfic is _not_ an AU. It takes place somewhere in the middle of the turtles' space journey, in which I wanted to go further with the concept of space and aliens and all around weirdness, danger, unfamiliarity, and miscommunication that alien multiculturalism would bring.

My beta reader and advisor is the talented **CelandineGranger.** She helped me greatly in improving the plot, chapters and my writing, as English isn't my first language and I'm not as good of a writer, or as big of a grammar nerd as she is. Check out her account for more amazing TMNT stories!

If you know me from DeviantArt or tumblr, you know who my favorite turtle is and who gets the most of my attention. And this story is not an exception, as the summary suggests. So get ready for a Raph-centric rollercoaster ride. ;)

I myself rate this story as 15+, but on this site it is rated T mostly for the unsettling and scary atmosphere it will convey, which might not be for the faint of heart. There will be a chapter or two that will lean more towards an M rating. I will warn about that in advance but I promise it will be nothing of what this story might hint at at some point.

Well, I think this author's note is long enough. Enjoy the first chapter!

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter One**

 **The City of Neon and Smog**

Just as the turtles, April, and Casey plopped down on the bunkbeds like worn out jute sacks, tired from another mission to get the black-hole generator's pieces back into their hands and a quick escape from the Triceratons a couple of hours ago, and ready to catch some needed "Zs" – the spaceship started buzzing and sounding the alarm that shook them all back up to their wobbly feet. The unexpected alert caught them off guard, but they were all quickly sober and running towards the control room.

The sound strangely died out in the middle of their sprint. Everyone's minds quickly jumped to the worst possibilities: being attacked by the Triceratons who caught up with the ship; crossing paths with bounty hunters or space pirates; hitting an asteroid shower for the second time already.

It was in the control room with the wide, rounded windshield that they got a view of what was really happening. The ship had landed on an unknown planet in a kind of futuristic looking city.

"Is something wrong, Fugitoid?" Leonardo was the first to arrive and the first to ask the question that sprouted from everyone's heads at the sudden wake up call.

"Ah, not at all." The robot waved his hand reassuringly at his Earthling friends while his eyes changed into the closed ones Mikey named "the happy smiling emoji eyes, bro, it's obvious."

"I apologize for waking you up in such an unpleasant way. I grazed a post when landing and it triggered the alarm."

The robot saw the group of juveniles nod understandingly in response. Their attention was soon diverted, curiosity only rising at the sight of their destination.

"I wasn't planning on such a sudden escape from the Triceratons. We had to travel an extra long distance for there to be only a zero point three percent chance of them tracking the Ulixes. But we have now almost run out of fuel and this is the closest planet I could stop on to refill the tanks. Maybe even recharge the power generator. My data shows electricity, along with everything else, here on Niktikleptis is very cheap."

"No kidding! Look at all those lights and neon signs!" Michelangelo gasped. He had already glued himself to the large windshield like a little kid window shopping outside a candy store the moment they had stepped in the main room and learned there was no danger.

The rest all joined the turtle's side to get a better look at the outside themselves. The ship was standing on some kind of small "gas station" platform located high up, between old, dark skyscrapers decorated with colorful, neon signs. The tall, rusted buildings sunk deep down below them where the ground couldn't even be seen as no light reached its bottomless pit. The same went with the sky as it was blocked by more buildings growing one out of the other and cables and wires strapped across the open space between them, where even more alien signs hung in bright light. Flying vehicles were gliding through the smoggy gray air and metal rails ran along the buildings and on them hung some strange kind of trams or gondolas.

All the buildings were wrapped in sidewalks with stairs growing out of them like branches and were swarming with countless alien species –most of which the team had not seen before.

Everything was a tangled mess of roads, platforms, wires, pipes and lights. The air was covered in thick smog, the light pollution giving the whole scenery a shady, 80s, city nightlife kind of atmosphere.

The teenagers were consumed by the sight, their tiredness forgotten somewhere in the back of their curious eyes. To a short degree it looked slightly like a futuristic sci-fi Earth city would. Very, very short degree. But they were all homesick and the thought of something even only slightly Earth-like was very welcome to them.

"This place looks like infinite Tokyo," Donatello blurted out, his eyes darting in all directions, looking at everything at once. He couldn't stop staring at the swarm of flying transports that buzzed through the city's traffic, his mind ever so impressed by the technology, even if he had seen far more advanced machinery in the span of the last two months they had spent in space.

"More like that one dangerous alley with a shifty nightclub I like to avoid," April commented sarcastically but with the truth still thick over the words. The pretty neon lights did give the place a lively look but it felt like they hid the poverty cowering behind it. Everything looked old and a tangled mess; buildings on top of older rusty buildings. She was sure if the lights died out it would look like an endless dump.

"Let's check it out!" Casey suggested excitedly, hearing April's previous snark but wanting to explore the city anyway.

The turtles all agreed, being overwhelmed with curiosity of the new place. April was a bit skeptical but even she couldn't resist looking around. It wasn't like these opportunities just popped up every day. Most of the time they just floated through empty space with not much to see.

The team turned to get their gear when Fugitoid hurriedly stepped in their way, his hands in a rushed stopping gesture.

"I don't think leaving the Ulixes is such a good idea," he squeezed out his nervous, high-pitched voice.

"Why not?" Raphael already crossed his arms.

"Do you recall how we stopped on that first planet with the marketplace and I had warned you to be careful because it could be dangerous, and then you almost got killed by an angry mob and even made a lifelong enemy? – Well, this is a whole new level of danger," Fugitoid explained.

He knew the teenagers were mostly skilled warriors but they were young and inexperienced in space travel. And the professor had assigned himself as their protector. He shouldn't expose them to any risks if not necessary. This planet was crawling with dangerous criminals and on top of that it was a city in which you could easily get lost.

"We're in the Elas 13 Solar System which has the highest rating of crime in the known universe! –It's a whole solar system with its own criminal laws," he tried to intimidate them.

"What about the _un_ known part of the universe?" Mikey asked cheekily, which won him a smack upside the head from Raph. _"Hey!"_

"That back then was our first time on a different planet. Besides we know how to handle ourselves," Leo argued in the name of all of them. He wanted to see as much of space as he could. Besides a few hours wouldn't be getting in the way of their mission to retrieve the rest of the black-hole fragments. They had just gotten one a couple of hours ago. They should be allowed to have a little bit of fun.

"Yeah, we were just overly excited back then, and that was almost two months ago," Donnie stepped in for support.

"And you're not overly excited _now_?" Fugitoid questioned in a voice that would usually be matched with a risen eyebrow if he sported one – preferably _two_.

"No…" they all answered in union and earned an exhausted sigh from the robot.

April joined Fugitoid's side when she noticed how serious he was. "Maybe we should trust Professor's judgment. Why do you want to go out so badly?" She was getting a bad vibe from the city that she didn't want to ignore anymore. She knew her telepathic powers were mostly right when it came to such things.

"Because it looks _cool,"_ Raph blurted out as if it was the most obvious reason. – _Which it was._

April backed away without a sound: _Once guys set their minds on something because of its looks, it's impossible to change their minds._ She wasn't a fan of arguing and she trusted and knew her friends enough to know they could get out of trouble if they ever stumbled into it.

Fugitoid tried one last time to be reasonable. "This is an ecumenopolis that covers almost the entire planet. There are too many possibilities of you simply getting lost, let alone something happening to you…"

Just as he spoke the last word he knew he had made a mistake. The boys took his words as a challenge. They were young teenagers, eager to see everything and prove themselves in every way possible. Simple _"no-nos"_ wouldn't change their minds.

"Dude, we're from New York City! We can handle big nasty cities!" Casey smirked smugly.

"Yeah, dude!"

The turtles all nodded grinning and all five were eager to leave already and get their spacesuits and gear on.

A sigh passed the robot's speakers as he gave in. "Very well, you may go…"

The boys did a little victory cheer before rushing off to get to their space equipment.

"I wanna see what kind of awesome and weird shops you can find!" Mikey laughed as he raced them to the cabinets.

"Gather here before you leave and get lost _permanently!"_ Fugitoid shouted after them, another sigh escaping his speakers after.

"Don't worry, Professor," April laid a comforting hand on the robot's metal shoulder. "Those guys have made it through a lot weirder stuff than an alien city."

It didn't take more than two minutes for everyone to get ready to go outside, including April, who promised to keep an eye on the boys if they got any stupid ideas.

They gathered in front of the main entry gates, everyone's helmets tucked under their arms and ready to be put on.

"Okay, listen carefully now. You have an Earth hour – _one hour!_ – to look around and come back here. Don't go too far because you'll get lost. Don't stray into small labyrinth passages because you'll get lost. Don't take any of the transports because you'll-"

 _-"Get lost._ We get it," Casey whined, never being the most patient of them.

"Don't talk to anyone. Don't make eye contact with anyone. Don't consume anything. And _stay_ together."

"Don't worry, Fugitoid, we'll be careful and stay out of trouble. We're just gonna look around a bit," Donnie reassured.

Fugitoid gave a nod, knowing Donatello meant what he said, yet he still couldn't help but worry.

"Keep your helmets on. Foreigners are not used to the pollution and extreme lack of oxygen in the air that is a consequence of such an enormous city."

Everyone put their helmets on in unison at the robot's order.

"Keep your communicators on you."

Everyone nodded with their communicators strapped to the chests of their suits.

"Be careful."

Fugitoid opened the gates and the teens, who were previously still and listening like good students, hopped out faster than the blink of an eye. Professor watched them leave the station and couldn't help but yell after them.

"Remember: One Earth hour!"

They waved in response but disappeared sooner than he liked.

The team ran down the rusted stairs leading off the platform and stopped on the last steps just before they would submerge with the crowd of pedestrians on the iron sidewalk that went alongside the enormous building. The aliens all looked like 80s and 90s freaks with colored mohawks and other strange hairstyles. Most of them wore old worn-out but colorful clothing styled with neon prints and glowing jewelry, but between them there were only a rare few who wore new shiny polished jackets and oversized fur coats so puffy they'd even scare away a yeti.

A lot of the strange faces were crooked and grim as of lowlife scum and criminals and not even one of them wore breathing helmets. Some had some kind of gas masks strapped to their belts but none of those were being used either. Which made the group of friends in their fancy space gear stand out more than necessary.

"Wow, if Bebop was here, he would blend right in," Mikey commented as they all dumbly stood on the steps taking in the sight before them. There was no way to disagree with the freckled turtle.

"So where should we go?" Leo, who was in front, asked the rest after they started getting strange looks from the crowd for just mindlessly staring around.

"I want to see what kind of tech they have here. It looks really advanced but still feels extremely outdated in comparison to what we've already seen. Maybe I could get something cheap like a small generator or something and try to analyze it back at the ship. Fugitoid did say that everything here is cheap," Donnie beamed with his customary nerdiness.

"Mhm, that's really interesting, Donnie. I would love to spend my time looking at alien toasters that are advanced but not _very_ advanced."

"Thanks, Raph. You're a real charmer," Donnie grumbled, not in the mood for his brother's sarcasm.

"I wanna play videogames! I miss the games at home. They should have like an arcade somewhere, right? This place looks like it has arcades," Mikey jumped up and down as if he could get a better look that way.

Casey leaned on Mikey's shoulder and stopped him from moving too much. "I'm with the little guy."

"Count me in. I rather play games than look for toasters any day." Raph stepped to their side, too.

"Okay, fine. You three go your way. April and I will go with Donnie."

"Wait, Leo, Professor said to stay together."

"Don't worry, April. Fugitoid just worries too much. Besides we're just splitting into two groups. We'll all be fine."

April glared at Leo who innocently smiled back at her in return. Before she could say anything, Mikey grabbed Raph and Casey by their wrists and excitedly dragged them down the last steps.

"I'm sure were gonna find something super cool down the block!"

They slipped into the pedestrian traffic and escaped down the sidewalk like paper boats down a stream.

"I guess we go the other way." Leo offered April a chance to lead the way. She roughly grabbed Donnie's arm and clung to it, pulling them both forward in the said direction, using every fiber in her from exploding in Leo's face.

The leader strolled behind them like a lost pup, feeling a bit guilty for angering the redhead.

xXx

"That arcade was _whack!_ I couldn't even understand the controls." Casey stretched his arms in the air as they progressed down a narrow platform.

"Tell me about it. I'm surprised we even found one, but, man, was it _not_ worth it. We only have about twenty minutes left before we have to be back at the ship," Raph grumbled.

They were walking on an old sidewalk that was attached and going alongside a skyscraper. To their right was the wall of the tall building to which the platform was connected, which was packed with makeshift shops and stands of some kind of flea market.

And right to their left was a bottomless pit that just screamed "certain death." – The rusty, creaking, grated floor wasn't helping ease the scary feeling of falling through. The space between these skyscrapers was much narrower than before in the main avenue, which gave the "alley" a very thin compressed look. Flying vehicles flew through the air on the left regularly but it was clear they were no longer on a busy street. It lacked the thick crowds and bright colorful signs. There were still a few but not enough to completely light up the dark smog filled air. It looked like a very foggy day, if fog had a grayish brown color.

"Have these people here ever even seen sunlight? I can't even see the tops of the 'scrapers." Raph observed the nonexistent sky above them.

"I'd count these aliens here lucky. Imagine living down there in the pit. There doesn't even seem to be a light of any sorts."

The two boys both cautiously leaned over the side of the platform to look at the bottom which looked like a black brownish void consuming the foot of the buildings. There was no fence in that part of the street where they stood and it made the pit and the fear of falling that much scarier. Just as they cautiously observed the view, Raph got a panicked feeling of something missing beside them.

"Where's Mikey?!"

They swung around suddenly scared for the sake of the little brother. He wasn't with them! Both their eyes darted around panicked.

All the worst case scenarios were already playing in Raph's head at a thousand miles per second. What if someone took him?! What if he fell over?! What if he got stabbed!? –Before his eyes locked with the familiar light green mass back at the end of the sidewalk where they came from.

Mikey seemed to be just standing there talking to someone out of their sight.

Raph didn't waste a second and sprinted through the scarce crowd, as fast as his legs could carry him to his side. He turned the oblivious turtle around by the shoulder and screamed into his face before Mikey even got a look at who grabbed him.

"Mikey! What the heck!?" he shook him by the shoulders and silently thanked God and every other holy being that nothing happened to his little bro.

"Oh, hey, Raph." Mikey smiled. – Which both relaxed and irritated Raph to no end. "This guy was offering me this glittery powder that you mix with any drink and it tastes like _dreams_. Cool, right!"

"What!?" The hot-tempered brother looked over Mikey's shoulder at the scrawny, greasy, four-armed, gray creature, in an old, stretched, oversized jacket, who Raph instantly labeled as an alien drug dealer. He wanted to kick the thing between the legs where preferably his junk would be if he, by any chance, had any. But his concerns directed him back to Mikey.

"You didn't try any of that stuff, did you?"

"Nah, bro."

That was an enormous relief for the older brother.

"I couldn't, I'm wearing a helmet, remember. And besides it costs way too much – _so I tried to bargain…"_ he whispered the last part to him.

Raph couldn't explain the anger and rage he felt towards Mikey's pea sized brain that couldn't see the difference between good and bad. But somehow, with a deep intake of breath, he managed to cage it and save it for later on the ship. He pulled Mikey away and flung him into Casey who had caught up and was already standing behind them.

Raphael gave the alien the nastiest, darkest look he could muster with his poisonous green eyes –which left the creature speechless and wide-eyed – before pushing his brother and friend away from the place. He itched for a fight but he hadn't forgotten Fugitoid warning them countless times earlier not to get into trouble in the alien city.

"Mikey, don't talk to anyone except for me and Casey until we get back to the ship. And from now on I'm walking in the back because you clearly can't be trusted to be out of sight for even a second!"

"Aw, man! I'm not complaining, but what did I _do?"_

"You're a moron, Mikey," Casey jumped in as a substitute for Raph. "That guy was trying to sell you space drugs. You don't know what those things could do to you. You could've been 'more high' than these skyscrapers."

" _Oh_ , I see… I had no idea, dude. If I was so tall, I wouldn't even fit into the spaceship anymore, and then you'd have to leave me behind. Thanks for the save."

Casey and Raph both face palmed but none of them said a word as they continued to walk down the littered, rusty platform. It wasn't worth explaining. And Mikey's innocence was just too precious to spoil, even for them.

xXx

The four-armed alien observed the three leave down the road, his eyes focused on their backs. He kept staring at them until a nice inconspicuous distance grew in between them. He grabbed a communicator out of his jacket and dialed a number much like on an Earthly cellphone.

"Whaddya want?"

"I just found a GAG you do not want to miss out on."

"Here? AHAHA! Are you sure you're not delusional?" a rough voice came from the other side of the line. It was laced with too many smoked cigarettes, but you could still hear the feminine sound of something like a woman.

"Hurry up if you don't wanna miss the golden opportunity. Just lock on my signal. I'll follow 'em around."

"Them?"

"There's two with 'im, but they shouldn't be a problem."

"Give us seven. Keep a distance. I don't want them scattering away."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it."

He flung the communicator into his old jacket and pulled the hood over his head. With a hunched posture he started following the three strange aliens.

 **xXVXx**

Here we are, with the prologue of the story. Please leave a review of your first thoughts. If you don't have a ffnet account, you can leave a Guest review, which is equally appreciated. :)

Feed the author!


	2. How Many Seconds Does It Take To Get…

Thank you everyone who left a lovely response to the start of this story, especially on deviantart. You guys are a blessing! And a thank you to my first three reviewers! You all know reviews and comments are my main source of energy. :P

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Two**

 **How Many Seconds Does It Take To Get…**

"I feel like we're nearing a dead end or something. This place looks like a dump," Casey spoke up after a few minutes of wandering around nothing but old, almost broken-down stands and shops of an alien black market, or _legal_ market, _or whatever._ It looked iffy. "We should turn around soon. Besides isn't the one hour Fugitoid gave us going to be up soon?"

"Casey's right, let's head back."

"Come on, let's just see what's around the corner," Mikey moaned, and was ready to run off. But Raph knew him all too well and grabbed the rim of his shell before the jumpy turtle even made his first step.

"We've been going around corners forever, Mikey. Let's just go. This place is lame."

"Fine…" the youngest let his arms hung in defeat. He had to admit the place was more boring than interesting once you got past all the bright neon lights.

Raph, who was last, stepped aside to let his friends take the lead back in the direction of the gas station. He wasn't backing away from what he had said earlier. He was going to watch his reckless brother's back until they were back on the ship.

Mikey gave him a puppy look Raph successfully ignored as he and Casey passed and started their way back.

Just as Raph turned to follow in the back he noticed the four-armed drug dealing alien from before, somewhere in front, coming their way. _Was he following them?_

The alien was hunched with a hood pulled over his head but Raph recognized his scrawny posture immediately. He looked like he was trying to blend in with other pedestrians but the turtle could clearly see him shift his eyes to them every few seconds. He even spoke a few times into some kind of communicator device he had in his hand.

Raph's blood ran cold. _What's this guy up to?_ His muscles tensed but then relaxed again, his fists unclenching. He quickened his step until he was right behind Casey and Mikey again.

"Hey, guys, that alien's been following us," he warned, trying to be as subtle as possible.

The two boys' eyes quickly landed on the scrawny alien in the scarce crowd as they continued to walk uninterruptedly.

"Should we bust him up?" Casey asked, his head never darting back at Raph.

"Not if we don't need to. Let's just try and pass by casually but keep your eyes on him and be ready in case he tries anything."

Everyone's attention stayed on the alien in front but they were more discreet about it than him. Mikey slowly took the lead, followed by Casey and then Raph at the end. All three of them nervously glanced at the drop beside their feet as they approached the stranger ahead. A fight would be risky. Someone could easily fall down.

Raph hadn't noticed a flying vehicle leave the air traffic on their right, zooming in from behind and slowing down beside them. The busy sounds of the street killed the noise of its engine and Raph's focus was entirely elsewhere at the moment. It wasn't until the old, rusted square ship caught the corner of his vision that he realized it was there right next to him, floating in the air, moving at the same speed as them. _What's this all about?_ He lost his focus on the alien for a moment, sensing another threat. But his senses were a second too slow as a huge body tackled him from the left. Just before he would fly over the edge of the platform and hit the side of the flying van with a nasty splat, its door slid open and he fell inside with the heavy tackling mass on top of him.

Casey heard Raph shout in surprise and turned around just quickly enough to see his friend get pushed into a ship.

"Hey!" he yelled back but wasn't quick enough to do anything as the vehicle sped right past him.

"Raph!" He started to chase it down the platform past an oblivious Mikey, but soon stopped and uselessly watched the vehicle join in the fast busy air traffic above and disappear behind a sharp turn already far away.

 _Crap._

"What happened?" Mikey asked next to him, completely startled and baffled. _Why did Casey just suddenly start chasing a car…? …Where's Raph?_

"Someone just took Raph."

"What?!" Mikey's voice pitched up. He wasn't sure if it was a joke or-

"Someone just freaking took Raph! We have to call the guys before those bastards get too far!" Casey grabbed the communicator attached to his suit and tried to get in contact with one of his friends or Fugitoid.

Mikey was standing next to him with wide, panicked eyes. He nervously glanced around feeling useless at the moment and out of place. His eyes were searching for his big brother so he could assure himself it was just a stupid prank. None of the passersby seemed to pay any attention to the two outworlders. Either no one had seen the kidnapping take place or no one cared…

Mikey noticed the alien drug dealer from before was nowhere to be seen as well. He had just vanished the moment Mikey had redirected his eyes to stare after a chasing Casey.

"Uhm… Casey-"

"What's wrong with this stupid thing!?" the human hissed through his gritted, gapped teeth. The communicator's small screen was glitching and automatically connecting with different signals of some kind of webpages and pop-ups littered in symbols he recognized as the planet's swirly writing.

"Useless junk!" He threw the communicator at the floor after a few desperate shakes, and smashed it with his boot in frustration until it fell silent. He grabbed Mikey's arm and harshly yanked the kid in the direction they were going.

"C'mon, Mikey! We gotta get back to the ship fast!"

Mikey didn't need to hear him twice and ran with Casey down the sidewalk they came from. It would've been easier to run if the guy wasn't holding him in a bone-crushing grip, but Mikey didn't feel like this was the time to complain.

xXx

Fugitoid, April, Donnie and Leo all waited on the landing platform in front of Fugitoid's Ulixes.

It wasn't unusual for the missing three members to get distracted and come slightly late, but Professor's earlier fuss made everyone a little worried. On top of everything else, the other three were being yelled at by the robot for splitting apart and had to face all the blame and fury alone. They only prayed and waited for the rest to show up so Honeycutt would redirect his anger at them.

Minutes passed before they all heard Casey's voice coming from the bottom of the stairs leading to the landing platform.

"Keep up, Mikey!"

"I am!"

They sounded frustrated but it didn't stop April, Leo, and Fugitoid from walking forward ready to give them a piece of their mind.

They only saw the top of Casey's head appear up the stairs when Leo started his scolding. "Where were you? We've been waiting here for fifteen minutes already! Professor's been at our throats and we're worried that-"

He stopped himself when he saw Casey's pale face under the space helmet. He had a strong hold on Mikey's arm as the short turtle ran along, his eyes wide and fearful. The blue masked leader recognized the panic behind their expressions.

"Dudes"- Casey gasped, trying to catch his breath once they came to a stop.

"What happened?" April asked stepping forward and instantly checking them over for injuries.

"Where's Raph?" soon came Donnie's question as he finally walked over to the commotion to stand by Fugitoid's side, his newly bought puzzle box now forgotten in his hand.

Everyone froze and all eyes fell on the two newcomers who then suddenly started yelling one over the other at the same time, none of them really knowing where to begin or what to say. Mikey stopped and gave Casey the chance to talk as the tall boy faced the rest of the group.

"Someone took him! We don't know who!"

The colors washed from everyone's faces at the news. Leo was the first to recover, his wide-eyed face putting on an angry frown.

"What did you do?!"

 **xXVXx**

 _As always, feed meh!_


	3. …Kidnapped

Thank you everyone for the reviews. I'm happy to hear some of you are already curious and excited for what's ahead. A lovely reviewer said the aliens made a mistake to kidnap Raphael who will easily give them trouble. Let's see how that goes...

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Three**

 **…Kidnapped**

Raph's head exploded with stars from the impact on the hard floor. Air was knocked out of his lungs as his attacker fell on top of him. He felt like he had been tackled by Rocksteady.

Over the loud buzz in his head, the noise of the traffic and Casey screaming his name, he heard doors sliding closed. The inside of the unknown vehicle he found himself in suddenly felt freezing cold and dark. He was shaken from the hit and couldn't see well or clearly make out what was up or down.

Elbowing the alien in the stomach – or what he thought was his stomach – Raph squirmed from under him to get a millisecond of freedom that was quickly replaced with strange limbs taking hold of his arms. Two aliens got a strong hold on him while about four more crowded him. All big and tall, bulky figures, thick skins covered in deep scars and bulges.

Raph's head cleared faster than any other time he got a mild concussion. Getting away from these freaks became his only concern. Focusing his strength into his right arm he managed to pull it out of the grip and used it to punch the other alien holding him in the nasty green teeth. Before the creature even dropped to the floor someone put Raph in a headlock from behind.

Lifting his foot, Raph intended to hit the alien in the knee, but his other leg was swept from under him by another alien. As he fell to his knees, his arms were again grabbed and this time extended out, each in its own direction.

"Let go, freaks!" Raph barked, trying to sound though and threatening which was hard in the kneeling position he was forced into.

Laughs and chuckles burst out of some of the bulky alien members in cold sharp waves.

Raph did his best to keep an angry, grim expression firmly planted on his face. But he knew he was screwed and trapped. _What's going on?_

"Let's take a look…" a long four-armed blue guy wiggled forward from between the enormous aliens and crouched before Raph.

Raph recognized he was the same species as the drug dealing alien from the streets and it only irritated the turtle more now knowing this was all probably planned.

The alien looked over his face through the helmet, which Raph made sure was scowling, then proceeded to check over his whole body. "Yup, he's a clear GAG," he declared.

Raph had no idea what to make of that statement, but the rest of the crew seemed satisfied with the confirmation.

"And this gear looks worth something, too. We could make some extra cash off of it."

"Screw you!" Raph spat as he struggled in the hold, sandwiched between two large arms.

The blue alien didn't look too fazed by his aggressive words and started to inspect the controls of the spacesuit on Raph's chest. He pressed a few buttons – which Raph tried desperately to prevent by tugging and squirming – but they didn't do much.

The alien's face lit up after a while when he finally found what he was searching for. "Here it is! It says here he's breathing a mix of mostly nitrogen and oxygen. Then there's argon and…" the alien's words got lost as he read the small writing on the screen. Everyone was quietly waiting which made Raph's adrenaline drop to the bottom of his stomach, allowing the cold feeling of worry to start settling in.

"Yeah?" One of the members got impatient.

"The mix's mostly the same chemicals as our planet's, just a huge lack in carbon dioxide and a lot more oxygen, which is what he uses to breathe just like us. I'm assuming he's wearing the helmet mostly because of the smog, so he should be fine without it"-

Raph's heart skipped a beat. He would never admit to being scared – not even to himself. But he was completely alone this time, restrained by more than six strong alien freaks, flying _"who knows where,"_ where they would try to do _"who knows what"_ with him. On top of everything an alien in front of him was _nerding_ about chemicals to his evil companions as if he was invisible.

"So you're saying he doesn't need the gear?" another loud rough voice pierced Raph's ears. Before the blue guy could nod to the tall bulky horn-headed _thing_ , he was already shoved to the side by _it_.

The large alien was a scary looking bulk of dusty orange. She wore a bright colorful puffer jacket and cargo pants that complimented the horrifying mess that was her face. There were three horns growing straight from between her eyes and teeth the size of a saber-toothed tiger's.

Raph's eyes widened when she made her towering presence clear to him.

She grabbed the sides of his helmet and unlocked it faster than the turtle thought was possible. It didn't take long for Raph to realize what was going to happen next.

"No, don't!" he panicked. His breathing unintentionally became faster and greedy in order to steal as much air as possible. Fugitoid had strictly said to keep their helmets on to protect them from toxic air, Raph remembered. He was going to _die!_

The horn-headed alien ignored Raph's struggles and plea and snatched the helmet off his head without care.

The turtle tried to suck in the last clean air one last time but all he inhaled was polluted, dusty air that had little oxygen for him to use. His lungs forced him to cough and inhale again which was only worse.

He broke down into uncontrolled coughs and wheezes. His eyes burned and watered. He started to shake and desperately tried to break out of the grips to grab and pull his helmet back on. He felt like he was drowning. He gasped deeply but there was little for his lungs to use. His body was thrashing and wheezing. He was sure he'd suffocate.

"Hold still, punk! Let's see here…" the alien grabbed Raph's jaw between her large, crushing fingers. She forced his head still and stared at Raph's irritated watery eyes. After a moment she burst out laughing as if experiencing some twisted bliss. Raph cast his eyes downwards, away from her ugly mug calming himself down as much as he could, ignoring the aliens and focusing entirely on his breathing, trying to get a lungful of air which provided about as much oxygen as a quick shallow sniff would with the helmet still on.

The alien calmed her deep echoing laughs after a while and straightened her posture, still keeping a hold of Raph's face. "It's kind of irresponsible for a kid like you to be walking around our town like a lost tourist. Here, danger preys in every corner," she spoke slowly, coating every word in poison and making sure she showed all her sharp teeth as she did so.

Raph did his best not to show fear and scowled at her even more.

"Who knows what could have happened to you if we weren't around to pick you up," the alien grinned and leaned closer.

Raph couldn't help but desperately tug his arms trying to get away from her sharp face.

The creature's fanged mouth twisted into a satisfied smile. She forcefully shoved Raph's head to the side as she let go of it, which forced the boy into another coughing fit.

"Get his gear off," she ordered her group of criminals. "Nartraal," she then addressed one, "you'll take it back to Sippa when we get downtown."

Turning back around, she looked at the kneeling turtle again. "Get comfortable, boy. It's still a long ride to Kharenx."

xXx

"We didn't do _nothing!"_

"Then what happened?!" Leo looked at the two with an irritated glare which made Mikey partly hide behind Casey. The small turtle still felt too shocked to say anything.

"We were just headed back here when we saw this alien from before following us. We had our eyes on him one second and in the next Raph's being pushed into a hover van right behind me," Casey tried to explain even though there wasn't much he could tell.

"So you talked to and angered an alien? Fugitoid strictly said not to do that!"

"We didn't anger anyone!" Casey yelled back, clearly not appreciating Leo's anger being directed at him. "That guy was just a merchant that tried to sell his stuff, we didn't buy anything and that's all there is to it. If he were somehow angry with us, he'd try to beat us up not follow us around like a creep and capture us!"

Mikey looked up at Casey in surprise. He slightly bent the truth in his favor. Although Casey wasn't lying. He just did not want to argue about something that probably wouldn't lead anywhere.

Leo scowled at the two when nothing else came out of their mouths. They were gone for an hour and his brother was already missing!

"But then who took Raph?" Donatello stepped in front of Leonardo who would have steam coming out of his ears if it was possible. Donnie, too, was starting to freak out but wanted to stay rational with his approach.

"I said we don't know! Someone pushed him into a flying car and drove off."

Donnie's forehead furrowed, he hummed and pressed a bent finger to his lips. He looked consumed in thought for a second before an idea flashed before his eyes.

"Professor! Don't you have trackers in our spacesuits? We can simply track Raph's location and find him."

"Yes! Of course!" the robot beamed and quickly turned and started rushing back to the Ulixes with everyone in tow. "Why didn't I immediately think of that?!"

"Quick thinking, Donnie," April smiled at the tall turtle on their way. Maybe this whole kidnapping would be over before it even started…

Fugitoid launched up the control room's main computer that flashed a projection over the whole windshield. He tapped some smaller tabs before another big screen popped up displaying a grid that was recognized as a map of the area. Only two silent seconds passed when a small orange light started blinking on the black background.

"Ah! Here is Raphael and he's not even that _far"-_

Fugitoid's excitement left his speakers as the screen started glitching and more and more orange dots started beaming on the sonar. New windows started popping up on the screen, flashing saturated images and letters to different advertisements. Sounds broke through the ship's speakers and alien commercials started streaming over the screen one over the other.

"Yo! That happened with my communicator!" Casey exclaimed.

"The same happened with everyone's communicator. This planet is a mass of different radiation and signals – and I cannot believe they broke through the ship's firewalls!" Fugitoid struggled to block all the intrusive ads. He turned off all his frequencies to the outside and eventually closed all the windows and quickly turned off the computer before it could somehow get attacked again. The robot let out a deep sigh once silence settled in again.

"Now what?" Leo asked, not having to be a genius to know the system almost crashed.

"If we try to look for Raph with the tracker again, the same thing is going to happen all over. And it would be too risky because a virus could get into the ship's main computer so we'd be stuck here for who knows how long," Donnie blurted out starting to sound frustrated.

"Donatello is correct. We cannot rely on the tracking device. Even if the ship's system was completely virus protected, there is no possibility to distinguish the intrusive locations from Raphael's," Fugitoid explained, his artificial voice gaining a grave tone.

"Then what do we do? Search the whole freaking city until we stumble on 'im?" Casey jumped in, wanting to add something to the exchange. He'd like to be helpful in some way but found himself as useless as possible.

Mikey was standing next to him still keeping quiet. His brows were knotted together with worry. _Why would anyone just snatch Raph out of nowhere…?_

"Maybe we should get help from the police," April offered her idea after a minute of silence.

"The police?" was Fugitoid's baffled response.

"Yeah, or whatever law enforcement this place has."

"I don't think that's such a great idea, April. We can't just walk into a police station," Leo reminded her.

"No, Leo, it actually is a good idea," Donnie interrupted his brother. "We can't walk into a police station _on Earth_ – but this is an intergalactic planet with countless species populating it. Maybe it would be best for the professionals to handle this one for once."

"That's what I meant," April smiled lightly despite the grimness of their situation.

"You two have the right idea in mind but it's not really doable in this solar system," Fugitoid interfered. "I mentioned earlier that Elas 13 has the highest rating in crime in the universe. It used to belong to the Federal Republic of Brandua Galaxy but it's so far away from the rest of the galaxy's solar systems that it was rarely under any kind of care or supervision. Over time they have started neglecting most of the laws because the republic's system had been overseeing the solar system and didn't offer it the said protection and goods"-

"That's very interesting robo-dude but we have to find Raph," Casey cut the professor's ramble short.

"What I'm trying to say is that their law enforcement isn't really _enforcing law_. It isn't how it should be."

"But it still helps their civilians, right?" April asked. "I mean Earth doesn't belong to any 'galactic republic', but that doesn't mean we don't have our own laws and systems."

"I do not know. I've never been on this planet before. I only know about what I find on the Universe Wide Database, which mostly offers basic political information. I don't know how their system really works since it's not on there."

Leo was quiet for a moment, thinking through his friends' words.

"I say we go to the place where Raph was taken and try to find the merchant Casey mentioned. Maybe he's behind it. And if we don't get any leads, _then_ we go to the police."

 **xXVXx**

Things are compliating. It's easy to forget the turtles and humans are neither familiar neither "made" for alien environment.

I deliver the story you deliver the review. Sounds fair enough, huh? :P


	4. The Ground

**xXVXx**

 **Chapter Four**

 **The Ground**

They stripped him of all the space gear, leaving only his belt, pads, mask, and wraps. Those weren't worth anything to them. Basically, he was left with only what he truly owned. _"Worthless junk,"_ they called it.

Raph wouldn't mind it, really, but they took the translation device he had on him and now he couldn't understand a single word the aliens pronounced.

He was lying on his side in the far back of the vehicle with his hands bound together behind his back. He would have broken free of the restraint and fought everyone on board any day, but at that moment his main priority was staying alive rather than wreaking havoc.

His breaths were deep and hard but at the same time rapid. His wheezing was loud. He would have never thought he would get tired from simply breathing. Every time he relaxed and slowed the tempo just a bit his oxygen was cut short. And every time he tried to move, or his exhausting new breathing cycle got disturbed in any other way, he'd start coughing and that only led to more suffocating. So he tried to stay as calm and still as he could – as much as it went against his hot tempered nature.

He really wanted to yell and fight and escape, but was forced to lie and gasp for air until his throat hurt.

Feeling like forgotten luggage, he watched the aliens sitting in a circle on the vehicle floor, chatting and laughing with each other as if this was a regular Friday evening in their lives.

After all the adrenaline from before left Raph's body, he couldn't help but feel confused and scared. He still had no idea what was happening or why it was happening in the first place.

In time, the aliens' figures started becoming more and more illuminated by the occasionally flickering orange ceiling light as the light outside the dirty windows dimmed.

 _How long have we been driving? Where are they taking me? Are Casey and Mikey okay? Were they taken, too?_ The unanswered questions started settling like dust.

The sounds the aliens made as they talked with each other were strange and unpleasant to his ears. The way they spoke, words snapped in odd places, reaching strange deep tones and then becoming a fast-paced mess of sounds he couldn't find the right letters for.

The language they spoke was so much different, so unlike anything he'd ever heard, that it made him terribly homesick just listening. On one hand, he was still partly glad they chatted out loud so his terrible breathing wasn't the only noise in the small room, but on the other, it made him feel like he was kept in the dark about what was going on.

 _Why couldn't they have left the stupid translator?_

Every now and then a head would turn his way and then back to the loud group and Raph _knew_ they were all talking about him right in front of his face. He hated the obvious glances. They weren't even trying to hide it. It irritated him more than the sting in his eyes from the dirty air.

He felt humiliated over his fear, too.

The ship suddenly shook and its engine screeched before giving up as the whole vehicle landed with a light thump. It shook Raph out of his circle of thoughts and brought him back to his situation.

The giant thugs all got up, reminding the turtle just how small he was in comparison. One grabbed him by the edge of his plastron, near his lightning bolt crack, and yanked him up to his feet.

"Aagh!" Raph stumbled over but caught his balance. His lungs didn't appreciate the movement or his cry as they burned with pain. While the aliens waited for his new coughing fit to stop, they placed the breathing masks, that were strapped to their belts, on their faces. Raph wished to have the luxury of wearing one but no one showed a sign of even considering giving one to him.

The vehicle door opened and a cloud of brown smoke illuminated by the orange light in the van burst into the tight space. Raph's eyes widened and he tried to back away from the spreading cloud but the alien that pulled him up held him firmly by the edge of his carapace.

Raph's automatic response to the smoke would be to hold his breath but he forced himself to keep his breaths even like before instead. The air that hit him was as lacking in oxygen as the air inside the ship but it was so dusty it tickled and scraped his throat and lungs. He could taste the dirt on his tongue and it stung his already reddened eyes. It hurt so much more to breathe and see in it.

He was pushed out and forced to walk into the dim outside. There was dirt and trash lying around and hanging from the tangles of wires and heap of collapsed platforms in the thick smog above them. Raph recognized they were at the bottom of the "bottomless pit", at the foot of the enormous skyscrapers. It was in an even worse state than he had imagined. Everything was rusted to the point it hardly held together. Even the supporting metal pillars and beams that must have been added at one point were decaying. There were no fancy bright neon lights decorating the dirty walls and beams. Only a few flickering, makeshift street lights lit the path of trash they were walking on.

Little creatures scrambled through the trash and scattered between everyone's legs as they walked by them. Raph's blood ran cold when one decided to run over his toes. He immediately kicked his leg up trying to shake away the disgusting feeling which earned him laughs from the aliens around and a merciless punch to the stomach for stopping his pace by the one who was leading him forward.

The hit, which Raph would dismiss in a fight back home, sent him stumbling over from impact. His hands were still tied behind his shell and he landed flat on his stomach, lifting a thick cloud of dust from the ground with his fall. Air was knocked out of his lungs and black spots swayed in the corner of his blurred vision. More laughs burst out around him as he gasped. He couldn't get enough air no matter how much he inhaled. The dust forced him to cough after every try and it hurt so much. His body started convulsing and shaking uncontrollably as blackness started wrapping itself around his mind.

The group of alien thugs ended their amused chuckles when the small green alien beneath them started to spasm.

The horn-headed leader, who had been further ahead, came back to see what made her gang stop. She pushed her way through the circle to see her loot's life slipping away before her.

"Idiots!" she growled at them as she crouched down before the suffocating alien. "Do you want him to die!?"

Taking off her breathing mask, she pressed it against Raph's snout. Raph's panicked eyes shot open from the sudden contact and looked straight up at her. They were bloodshot and wide as those of a cornered animal.

"Breathe…" she encouraged him, even though she knew he couldn't understand her. She didn't want the alien to die. He was worth a lot of money alive. If he died choking on dirt, she was positive no one would even consider eating his meat, let alone buying it.

Raph's breaths evened after a minute of greedily sucking in oxygen and his head relaxed back down to the ground. He felt woozy and detached, his consciousness still not fully returned. The alien strapped the mask on his limp head seeing he would need it for at least a while. She herself didn't have the need for it apart from the smog annoying her.

"Nartraal, take the gear to Sippa. Tell him to sell it at the market at a good price. The rest of you just leave before you screw everything up!" the leader ordered after lifting Raphael from the ground and throwing him over her shoulder.

Raph tried to kick at her but found no strength to cause any damage. All he could let out was a silent choked whimper under the breathing mask.

The leader stopped one of the leaving members. "Kralya, you're staying with me. You're better at negotiating than I am."

The blue four-armed alien stepped to her side as the rest of the gang started returning to the vehicle. He looked over at Raph's pale face and unfocused eyes.

"He should be better in a couple of valyutes."

"Good."

 **xXvXx**

What will happen to Raph? :O Please leave a review until next time. :)


	5. The Law Enforcement Headquarters

I saw the last chapter scared a few of you for Raph's safety ...which means I'm doing something right here! 3:D On a slightly different note I hope this chapter will be as entertaining to read as it was to write.

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Five**

 **The Law Enforcement Headquarters**

The team took the Ulixes' scout ship to navigate through the busy traffic of the overcrowded, planet-sized city of Niktikleptis – _a word no one but the professor bothered to pronounce_ – to the location Casey and Mikey said Raphael had been taken from. Dr. Honeycutt parked the vehicle on a platform occupied by other aliens' transports, not far from the scene where the kidnapping had taken place. There was no evidence of the crime, however, as everyone there seemed to continue their normal routines undisturbed. When the team came to the exact spot, the skinny, gray, four-armed alien, as the two described him, was nowhere to be seen, just as expected.

They all asked a couple of merchants close by if they'd seen anything or recognized anyone, but no one had seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary, or they just didn't pay any attention. It made the team question if kidnappings were something mundane for people on this deceptive planet.

Mikey took them all to the stand where he first saw the suspicious alien but even there, there was no sign of him. His container-like stand was closed up and no one was around. The merchant on the neighboring stand said the guy had closed up shop not long ago but would surely come back in around a hundred valyutes.

"That's around three hours," explained Fugitoid to his Earth friends after his human brain made a quick conversion.

The news more than devastated the team.

"We can't wait around for three hours! Who knows what could happen to Raph during that time?" Leo almost shouted in Fugitoid's face for no other reason than being extremely worried and angry with the whole hopeless situation. On top of everything, the sleep none of them received after their earlier mission became a nasty reminder in the form of a headache.

 _Why did he suggest the team split up in the first place? He should have known something bad was going to happen the moment he had seen the city…_

"Calm down, Leo." Mikey pulled his brother away from Fugitoid to give the unfortunate robot some space. He didn't want anyone fighting at such a bad time. "We've all been captured before and we always got each other back safely. Don't worry. We'll get Raph back, too."

Leo frowned despite his little brother's encouraging words. Even though he meant well, it didn't help one bit. "But before we always knew who had us and where to find us. Now we don't have any useful clues and we're on a planet that we don't even know how it works!" He ended his sentence with his voice unintentionally rising again.

"Okay, Leo, enough!" Donnie shoved his shoulder away from Mikey. "You're acting like Raph. We don't need this right now."

Leo couldn't disagree with Donnie's accusation. "I'm sorry. You're right." He lifted his hands to run them down his tired face but was quickly prevented by the helmet on his head. He swallowed down the new frustration that rose up almost immediately, and stepped closer to the group.

"Okay, so what's the new plan? I think we should still try to do something before that alien comes back."

"Well, let's go report to the police then come back. Heck, maybe the police will get Raph back in no time. This still is an advanced city after all," April offered her idea again.

 _"Very advanced…"_ mumbled Casey under his helmet – more to himself than others – as he looked over at the dirty lowlife scenery surrounding them.

April gave him an unappreciative look. She was only trying to be positive. She turned on her heel to walk back to the somewhat polite merchant that had given them information on the skinny hoodie guy.

"Excuse me, again, but could you tell us the way to the closest, uhh… law enforcement headquarters?"

"The what?" The rough merchant gave her a funny look.

 _"You know…_ a command post of your planet's law enforcement organization empowered by the government to enforce law and protect its people," April explained in one intake of breath.

"You mean a police station?"

"Wow, these translators are better than I thought!" April eyed the watch-like device on her wrist before awkwardly smiling at the merchant and nodding her head. When she saw nodding didn't translate as well as verbal language, she promptly said "yes" to get the merchant's response.

They received the directions, which the professor then memorized in his artificial memory storage, and used the scout ship to fly to the desired location.

They weren't really sure if they were at the right place when they arrived. The front looked more like an entrance to an abandoned barber shop than a police station, and the inside wasn't in a much better condition.

 _"Uhm, hello?"_ Leo cautiously greeted the seemingly deserted hallway as they all peered over him and through the door.

"Hello." A deep voice came from right beside them and scared the life out of everyone. No one had noticed the reptile man sitting in a chair at the side of the entrance.

Donnie's head popped over everyone else's in the tight group. "Is this the police?" he asked.

The half camouflaged lizard didn't say anything else and simply pointed his splotchy cuffed arms at the end of the unlit, quiet, narrow room towards an illuminated counter on the other end.

Leo nodded his head, eyes still wide, before silently walking across followed by everyone else glued to his carapace.

 _"Tourists, here…?"_ an alien officer behind the desk grunted in amusement when he noticed the approaching aliens. He fully faced the group of newcomers once they reached the counter. "How can we help you? – Did you get lost?"

The officer had four distracting elephant-like trunks dangling from his face and red-rimmed eyes half hidden behind them, and it freaked out the Earthlings even more than the jump-scare they faced seconds ago.

"We'd like to report a missing person." Leo did his best to not stare at everything that just looked too weird to even call weird.

"Did _they_ get lost?"

"He got kidnapped!" Casey shouted over Leo's head and got pulled back by April telling him to shut up. Leo gave everyone behind him a nasty glare before turning forward again.

"Alright, a kidnapping. Nothing uncommon though very uncommon to come here. People usually sort that out themselves." The officer cleared his desk a bit and placed a kind of laptop device in front of himself.

"Our manual limbs are branded useless. We are in need of professional assistance," said the professor who squeezed his way in next to Leonardo.

"No problem. How long have they been missing?"

"An hou-"

"Twenty-four hours!" April spoke before Donnie could finish.

"What's that?" The officer looked at the group "Is it like a day?"

"Exactly a day," Fugitoid assured even though he knew the days on Earth didn't match the ones on this planet. But they were lying anyway, so who cared?

"Okay, that's more than enough time to report." The officer opened a program and put in the information for a report of a missing person.

"So, what age are they?"

"He's sixteen," Leo answered, finally given a chance to speak again.

"Almost seventeen," Mikey felt the need to add.

"So, sixteen percent?" questioned the officer.

"No. _What?_ Years," Leo blurted. He was somewhat _–_ no – _entirely_ confused.

The officer lowered his hands that were ready to type in the information.

"This doesn't help me at all. I asked what's his _age,_ not how old his existence is. He's not an object. – What's his age in percentage?"

"In percentage?" Leo repeated his voice reaching a note he wished it couldn't.

"It means how much of his life he has already lived through in comparison to an average life expectancy of your species," Fugitoid explained the most common calculation of age on multispecies planets. It never occurred to him to explain some universal basics to the Earthlings since he never thought they'd ever even face anything needing that sort of information…

"We don't know our lifespan," Leo grunted, "we're the only turtle mutants, remember."

 _This wasn't going anywhere. They shouldn't have come to the police station._

"Well humans live up to around, let's say, seventy-five years on average," Donnie spoke up, "and dismissing our appearance and some abilities turtles have, we've grown and aged pretty much just like humans and not like turtles. … _So 1600 divided by 75 equals around 21._ So twenty-one percent!" he finished his mumbled thought.

"Twenty-one percent?" the officer repeated and waited for a nod. "Well then: Case closed."

"What? Why?" Leo questioned. He was leaning over the counter so much he was inches from falling on the desk thanks to everyone behind him shoving to get a look.

"Well, kidnapping people over the age of ten percent is legal in Elas 13."

Leo was speechless. So was everyone else. Only Fugitoid decided to use his speakers.

"That's outrageous! Kidnapping should never be legal. It's a peoples' rights violation!"

"In some places but not here." The officer put away the computer. "You only cannot kidnap children under the age of ten percent, but no one ever thinks of doing that, our solar system is civilized. Why do you think our police departments are always empty?"

"Because you have no real laws and you are unreliable!" Fugitoid was extremely agitated for someone who was mostly a machine. He was aware of the existence of Elas 13 and their high rating of crime but wasn't aware that Niktikleptis actually promoted laws in its favor.

All five barely dragged the professor out of the station by his metallic limbs before he could do something that would get them arrested. – Something they didn't have time to deal with.

"Cool down, Fugi-dude," Mikey shook the robot's shoulders.

Casey wasn't emotionally far behind Honeycutt. He released his anger on a discarded tin can on the platform and almost hit a passerby in doing so.

"Watch it, _Weak-Breather!"_ The angered alien made a remark over Casey and his friends' breathing units that no one but them seemed to wear on the godforsaken planet.

"'Scuse _me,"_ the teenager grumbled under his helmet before walking back over to his friends.

"What now?" he heard Mikey ask Leonardo, whose mask was hardly hiding the worried wrinkles.

The desperate leader sighed and looked at the concerned faces directed at him, feeling the burden mostly on his shoulders again.

 _What in the whole universe can we do…?_

 **xXVXx**

What _are_ they going to do? Let me know what you think. Until next time!


	6. Collar

A reviewer in the previous chapter mentioned that they do not like waiting so long for updates because they just get immersed into the story when they're suddenly pulled out, having to wait for the next chapter to be up. I understand this frustration very well, I read fanfics, too. But I do not think it would be fair for me to put out something I have been working hard on for such a long time, in one go. I like hearing people's commentary on chapters and seeing what they like about them, and I know I wouldn't get as many if I'd make all of the chapters avalable at once. :P Also my beta, bestest CelandineGranger, is going through each chapter carefully to help my grammar, and I can't force her to hurry with something I can only be grateful she is helping me with. - I think weekly updates are reasonable and not too slow at all. I hope most of you agree with me even if you're eager to read everything already. :)

Well, anyways! Let's-a jump back into the story!

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Six**

 **Collar**

Raph only vaguely remembered what happened after he had gotten punched in the gut by one of the aliens that had snatched him up from the street. Blackness had wrapped around his mind the moment he had hit the ground. Everything afterwards was a blurry dream that he remembered less and less the more he tried to recall the events.

At the moment he was stuck lying in a tight space surrounded by nothing but darkness. His hands were still bound when he woke up, and a few forceful kicks and shoves against the metal walls told him he was stuck inside no matter what.

The air was better now, at least. It still wasn't how he would like it, but it was much richer than before. He no longer felt like he would suffocate the moment he moved a finger. Not that he could move much where he was.

 _Where the heck am I…?_

None of the ideas that came to mind were pleasant. He wanted out, to find a way back to his brothers, but he was trapped and was only able to lie and wait. His very nature rebelled against this. The anger and frustration he had felt soon after he had awoken was slowly cooling down into fear. The last thing Raph needed was to be scared. That feeling wasn't in his book, he told himself as he rolled on his other side. His arm had started feeling numb from the weight of his body against it. _If anyone would be scared, it'd be Mikey-_

 _Mikey!_ Raph's body suddenly jerked. – _What happened to Mikey? And Casey?_ This time he allowed the feeling of fear to take over. He'd been so focused on his own situation he hadn't even thought that his little brother and best friend might be going through the same thing.

His anger came back in a flash and he found himself trying to kick open the walls again.

"Lemme out!"

As if on cue the top lifted up, but it wasn't thanks to Raphael's efforts. Someone had opened it from the outside.

The turtle, after his eyes adjusted to the sudden flash of strong sunlight blinding him, found himself face to face with another alien he didn't recognize.

Without wasting more time, he quickly pushed himself up out of what looked like the trunk of a ship. His legs leaped up, and one forcefully connected with the alien "bulldog's" clothed chest. The creature yelped and stumbled to the side from the impact while the young ninja landed rather gracefully with his arms still tied behind his back.

Raph gasped for breath, his pained lungs still not used to the lack of oxygen. Without a pause, he used the few free seconds to start running away from the alien, and in the meantime, to take in as much information as he could about his new surroundings.

He froze in place after only a few steps from the ship.

He wasn't in the city anymore… There were no endless skyscrapers and bright glowing signs littering the dim air. Bright blue filled up the whole clear sky above him. He found himself standing in some kind of desolate desert land where ships of all shapes and sizes were parked in wide rows around him. In the far distance he could see a stretching wall. At first glance it looked much more like he was in the landscape of the backwards flea market on the first planet they had visited, than the colorful neon city he had been walking through only a while ago. The major difference from the messy flea market he remembered was that everything here looked organized, as if he were in some kind of parking space of a landing terminal.

 _How far out of the city am I?_

His thought was cut short when the winded alien behind him started getting back up and he noticed another stronger looking alien rush in to aid him. Raph didn't waste any more time and took off in the direction where he had spotted four people standing between large ships about six hundred feet away. They were the closest to him in the scarce lot.

One of the aliens behind him started shouting when they noticed their prisoner running away. Raph allowed himself to smirk. Even though he couldn't possibly know how fast the two creatures could run he was confident he could outrun them and get help from the ones up ahead.

He sprinted over the dry, cracked ground as the two behind him tried to keep up and continued shouting words Raph could only guess the meaning of. The noise seemed to attract the attention of the aliens he was running towards.

 _Way to do half the work for me, bozos,_ Raph thought. No one needed a language translator to see that the two behind him were obviously his kidnappers.

The four aliens, all of the same species, attentively listened to the shouts for a moment as all their multiple eyes focused on the running turtle coming their way. It wasn't until Raph was only a couple feet from reaching them that he recognized their prepared stances.

 _"Oh no, you gotta be kidding"-_

Raph skidded to a halt but had no time to turn in a different direction as the four grabbed at his bound arms and shell and quickly pinned him to the ground.

"Let go!" he barked and tried to wiggle free from under their weight. He found himself coughing on dust for the second time that day and the pain in his lungs from his run was just now registering in his brain. Even so, he pushed the pain away for a little longer. Managing to pull his legs underneath him, he strained to haul himself to his feet and shake off the short aliens that grabbed him. He was almost free again, but the effort to do so strained his muscles too much. His right leg buckled and the aliens used the short moment to lunge at him again and force him back down on his stomach.

"No!"

His two pursuers made it to their side before Raph could even begin to struggle again. The plump, round one he had kicked in the chest crouched down in front of him. He said something odd-sounding Raph couldn't understand but assumed was a question directed at him. So he made sure to growl at the wrinkly, furry-faced creature in response, despite his aching lungs protesting everything that wasn't strictly breathing.

The alien paid no mind to his aggressive warning as he laid a leather bag down on the ground in front of Raph's head. He opened it up and slowly pulled out something small and metallic that Raph instantly associated with some kind of weapon. The turtle ceased his struggling at the sight of the object, hoping to lower the chances of it being used on him if he remained calm.

This did not cause the furry alien to reconsider. He leaned over the bag, his free, chameleon-like hand going down on top of Raph's head to hold it still against the ground while the other one placed the weapon against the nape of the boy's neck.

Raph's blood ran cold as he felt the cold object against his neck. "No. Stop!" He started struggling and tugging again. The alien grunted something in return, probably ordering Raph to hold still. The turtle quickly stopped his bucking, knowing it was useless, squeezed his eyes shut, held his breath, and hoped he was somewhat prepared for the inevitable.

He heard a click and something unfolding, and felt metal being clasped around his neck. No agonizing pain followed, as he had expected, and the hand on his head disappeared back to its owner's side.

He slowly peeked with one eye and looked at the alien who was looking back down at him, before blinking with both in confusion.

"Probably should have done that when you were still out," the alien said and it took Raphael a second to realize he heard the creature talking in the familiar English language.

The collar now locked around his neck served as a translator and not a weapon…

Raph let out the breath he forgot he was holding, already preparing to say something to his ugly captor, but found a new problem – or rather – _old._ He couldn't breathe again. There was suddenly as much oxygen in the breaths he took as back in the city, even less, and his already exhausted lungs didn't take the sudden change very well. It threw him into a new painful gasping fit.

The four short aliens who held him down, moved away and left Raph to spasm for breath.

"Here's how it goes," the bulldog-faced alien spoke and received some of Raph's attention. His expression was dark and serious as he looked down on him. "You obey – you get to breathe; you disobey – _well,_ you get to do this." He gestured at the boy choking on the ground.

Raphael offered an ugly, angry look to his captor, his eyes scowling at the creature and wishing they could just drill through the alien's head and kill him.

 _This wasn't happening!_ He couldn't surrender like this. _He couldn't!-_

"Your choice, kid."

xXx

"Guys, I think it's him." April appeared from behind the parked scout ship. "There's a scrawny gray alien opening up the shop." Her cheeks were warm and rosy under the helmet as she took in a lungful of oxygen after her sprint.

The three turtles and Casey all jerked up from the floor they were sitting on, their eyes and ears alert.

Once they had returned to the market from the police station – if it could even be called that, as useless as their service had been – the suspicious four-armed alien still hadn't returned to his shop. The makeshift container-stand was still closed up. The turtles and Casey had all returned to the platform where they had parked the Ulixes' scout ship to wait as April and the professor stayed near the shop, since they were the only ones the alien couldn't recognize once he showed up.

The scrawny creature that had started opening up the boards that covered the front of the stand and prevented any quick theft, easily fit into the quick description Mikey and Casey had given to the freckled girl watching from a distance. With a quick glance at Fugitoid, who gave her a nod, April had sped off to get her friends as the android stayed to keep watch.

"I was starting to worry he wouldn't show," Donnie said, sounding relieved by the news.

"Alright, let's go already and bust 'im up!" Casey, like everyone else, was already on his feet and easing into a slow, inconspicuous run back to the market. They had to run down a flight of stairs and around two corners.

"We'll approach casually. If he sees us running at him from afar, he could escape and then all this waiting will be for nothing." Leo explained the little planning that he could do. He felt rather useless in his position as leader on the alien planet.

They had waited two hours longer than the helpful merchant had presumed it would take the scrawny gray alien to show up again. Raph had now been missing close to six hours, and Leo was scared to imagine what could have happened to his brother in all that time. The leader was more than eager to finally take action and extract the information from the shopkeeper, who undoubtedly had something to do with Raph's kidnapping. But the team needed to be tactical to make sure nothing went wrong.

They reached the last corner and slowed to a halt. One by one they peered around the edge of the giant skyscraper's wall to look at the stand on the other side of the path. They saw Dr. Honeycutt was already ahead of them, talking to the alien and keeping him distracted while they approached.

"That's him," Mikey whispered, his face growing dark at the sight of the drug dealer.

Having recieved the confirmation from his youngest brother – not that he had needed it – Leo slowly led the team through the scarce crowd of pedestrians.

"Mikey, Casey, you two stay behind until Donnie, April, and I make sure he can't escape."

Mikey let out a huff. Suddenly being ordered to not do anything was out of the question for him, but Casey grabbed his arm and stopped them both from following, understanding Leo's concern all too well.

They couldn't afford to screw this up.

xXVXx

I know you guys asked for "breathers" but maybe next time? :O


	7. Gear

**xXVXx**

 **Chapter Seven**

 **Gear**

"I don't care what happened to your pal. I had nothin' to do with it."

"You followed us around, dude!" Michelangelo accused the gray, four-armed alien the team had surrounded in a half circle against his own shop.

"Where'd ya get that stupid idea, tiny?"

The alien hadn't seemed too concerned by the group of six once he had noticed them close in on him, and he didn't look like he had thought of trying to escape even once. There hadn't been a flash of worry on his features like the team had expected and it made _them_ worry that he really wasn't involved in the kidnapping. Because surely he recognized Mikey and Casey from earlier and would have been at least a little skittish to see them come after him.

If it turned out he really had no relation to Raph's disappearance, then the team would be left without a single lead to his whereabouts.

"We saw you following us around in the crowd." Casey stepped in next to Leonardo.

The leader stood closest to the alien, more than willing to use force if needed. If the gray creature hadn't seen the resemblance between him and Raphael before, he was sure to see it in the death glare Leo drilled into his forehead, similar to Raphael's after he tried selling the shortest one some of his "products".

"I closed up shop and left to go get somethin' to eat. It ain't my fault ya happened to be goin' in the same direction."

"But you had your communicator on you and you were talking with somebody," Casey argued – but realized how irrelevant that sounded as soon as it was said.

"It's called conversin' with friends, chump."

Uncertainty started taking root in Casey and Mikey where confidence once was. They had been positive the skinny "four-arms" was behind Raph's disappearance, but what they called evidence before started sounding much more like coincidence…

 _"But-"_

"Look here, fellas." The alien sidestepped Leo, who had been all up in his face until then, and casually walked around into his metal, container-like stand to sit on his stool behind the counter. "I might not happen to be the most _…'clean'_ looking person around here." He gestured to all the presumably stolen or illegally obtained junk behind him. "But that ain't mean I kidnapped your friend. You're tourists – it's clear from a dekta away – and tourists are easy pickings for those that make their living from traffickin'. Which happens to be about ten percent of the planet's _'pop'._ Your friend should'a watched his back better. – That's how life is here. And life here _ain't nice."_

Leo and Casey were both on the verge of attacking the pompous lowlife. Leo was frustrated and beyond worried because the mission wasn't going how he had pictured it. He had been sure the team, with their weapons drawn, would intimidate the alien into spilling out all he knew, but the smug look he was receiving told him there was no telling what he heard was even close to the truth. Still he could not let himself attack a person that might not have anything to do with his brother, no matter how tempting it was. If only Raph were here. That guy had a talent for intimidating and terrorizing others into talking.

Leo's fists shook by his side as a growl erupted in his throat. He grabbed the alien behind the counter by his collar and yanked him forward. "You're not telling the truth!"

"About life not being nice?" the alien deadpanned, clearly unamused, even somewhat irritated. "You're stretchin' my pullover."

Leo forced the creature even closer, satisfied by the sound of a stitch tearing. "About you not taking part in my brother's kidnapping!"

"Ya ripped it! Oh great, just _super!_ Are ya happy now? And no, for the fifth time: I ain't got nothin' to-"

The alien's farfetched promise was broken by a gruff, loud voice that came from behind everyone.

"Yo, Sippa, where you want this?"

The way the scrawny alien's previously narrowed eyes widened at the sight of the speaker forced Leo to immediately look behind him. His eyes spotted a big bulky person walking over a few feet behind the rest of his already aware team. Leo's careful gaze landed on the box of equipment she was carrying. – _Raph's equipment!_

 _"You lying-!"_ The young leader threw himself over the counter at the scrawny alien and turned him, forcefully pinning his head and chest to the counter. His plasma-extended sword had been masterfully pulled out with the free hand in the short moment and now lay pressed against the creature's neck.

"Talk! _Now!_ If you don't, I have another guy over there that might be more willing."

The surprised newcomer didn't get a chance to make a single step to help her friend or run away as the rest of the team's weapons suddenly surrounded her own neck.

"What's going on here?" she asked, completely obliviously and also not entirely fazed by the threatening weapons.

"Okay, fine!" the alien named Sippa grumbled uncomfortably under the sword. "So I helped kidnap the alien. Big deal! What are ya gonna do? Call the police? I did nothin' illegal here. – And that ain't gonna bring 'im back. I don't have 'im. And my buddy over there obviously don't have 'im either."

"But your other buddies _do!"_ Leo knocked his head against the hard counter.

It finally dawned on the other much larger alien that the short three green creatures all looked suspiciously similar to their recent victim. "Hey, you guys are all the same species as the alien we grabbed today! Are you his relatives? And your gear is color coded! That's hilarious."-

"Nartraal, you ain't helpin' here." Sippa rolled his eyes, still pressed uncomfortably against the counter. "Look, brave-boy," he scowled at Leonardo leaning over him, ignoring the sword at his throat, "my people probably don't have your friend anymore. Alright? – Let me and Nartraal, there, go and we'll tell ya where to find 'im. How's that sound? Hmm?"

Leo was still and quiet for a moment, thinking things through. He wanted to get things done his way but that had long ago stopped being an option. They needed the quickest route to Raph, even if it wasn't to his liking. Reluctantly he made a step back and allowed the previously pinned alien to rise back to his impressive full size.

"I kinda feel bad for all of ya." Sippa dusted himself. "You're acting like the world's endin' or somethin'."

"Cut to the chase," Leo warned and gestured to his team to lower their weapons from the larger alien's neck, too.

Sippa's annoying smirk left his mouth as he finally made room for some seriousness, inclined to fulfill his end of the promise. He walked out of his shop, Leo trailing him with his sword still readily in hand, and joined the rest.

Pedestrians that walked the platform weren't paying them any attention and they all walked their own separate ways through the semi-busy street. No one looked concerned by the display of weapons and threats and only made sure to walk around the circle of aliens now standing in the middle of the sidewalk, instead of barging through it.

"So, you 'outies' seem pretty confused by what's goin' on here…" Sippa eyed the five aliens and android individually to get some conformation from the hateful looks he received in return. "Well first off, he ain't dead, probably not even a scratch on 'im, if that's a relief to any of ya?" He could see that it was and started understanding just how clueless the outworlders were about what was happening.

"But how does he breathe without his helmet?" Mikey pointed out a question half the team hadn't even thought about. If the big alien had all of Raphael's gear with her, then their brother was surely left without any kind of breathing unit.

Nartraal was the one to speak up, having been present during the whole kidnapping. "Well enough to stay alive but not be able to fight back. Was pretty funny watching him choke and wiggle on the ground like a little worm!" she laughed.

 _"You disgustin'-"_ Casey made a move for his hockey stick but was stopped by Mikey grabbing his arm. Donnie did his best to restrain Leo from attacking the alien, too.

"Nartraal!" Sippa sent a warning glare his friend's way to stop her from saying anything more than what was necessary. The gray alien enjoyed watching the foreigners unnerved, but even so there was a limit to what could be said. Having dear ones trafficked was not foreign to a Niktikleptian and wasn't something to joke about.

Once he realized the message of his scowl wouldn't get across to his friend, he eventually continued by asking, "Is the job already done?"

"Oh, yeah. _Valyutes_ ago," the oblivious alien responded.

"Alright, then it ain't gonna hurt our business to help these chumps!" Sippa smiled at the mentioned group that was growing impatient and outrageous.

"What business?" Donatello asked warily, his arm still in front of the oldest brother while his other hand held his staff slightly risen in the direction of the two aliens.

 _"'Grab 'n' sell.'_ – We sold your friend for money."

"You what?" April was surprised she even found her voice. That was… She couldn't even find a word to describe how _outrageous, awful, inhumane_ that was!

"We sold him in the first twenty-five valyutes," Nartraal grumbled, ending her sentence somewhat thoughtfully. – "Why are you still here?"

"What do you mean, 'why are we still here'? You still haven't told us where he is." Leo's voice was low and offputtingly collected for someone who was nearing a meltdown.

"Where all trafficking takes place," said Nartraal, taking note of the death glare she was receiving. " _Singathef._ "

"Your dear friend left this planet already 170 valyutes ago."

 **xXVXx**

For anyone curious and who likes simple math (or is just a giant nerd like _moi)_ you can convert "valyutes" into minutes throughout the story if you still remember Fugitoid comparing the two units couple of chapters back. :) Nothing necessary, just something fun to do if you want to know the exact passing of time. I really went into detail with this story because, as I said, I'm a nerd. :P

Review, My Pretties, review!


	8. Tag! You're It!

Guys, I'm a person who hates spoilers of any kind so I have decided to prepare you a seperate link for all the "warnings" I could think of for this story, since some parts get pretty dark. This way people who don't care about warnings can ignore them, and people who need them can check them out. Also the link will include other "goodies" such as art and nerdy stuff. Do you like the idea? I'll present the link in a near future chapter. For now just enjoy the bumpy ride.

And, yes, I am totally getting a kick out of seeing you squirm! Your reviews make me grin so much! Thank you! Also please let me have the title of this chapter. It humors me.

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Eight**

 **Tag! You're "It"!**

"Owner?"

Raphael's heart fell into his stomach where he stood, unmoving. _Owner?!_ His head hurt and throbbed, and he wasn't sure if he heard it right, or not. Anger flared in his stomach, but before it could do anything, the flame died and left room for panic …and dread. The turtle gripped the rope tying his wrists together, digging his fingers into the material. He felt a sudden need to hold onto something solid – a kind of pillar of unwanted confirmation that he really was held captive, and that it wasn't just a sick dream his throbbing brain made up, that he could simply ignore until it went away.

"Psoh-ghlavts eez Rezieh," he heard the bulldog-faced alien answer, and had an awfully hard time understanding that the chain of meaningless syllables was the name of the person he apparently belonged to now.

He watched the alien pull a small chip from the inside pocket of his jacket and press it against a plain brick-sized box on a desk. It sent his identification into a computer connected to it.

A feathered alien in a chair behind the computer desk hummed as she quickly skimmed his data on the screen. "Hmm…"

When she was satisfied that the information looked valid she proceeded. "Quantity?"

"Just one," said "Bulldog".

The muscular alien that was with him, and served as nothing but hired muscle, pulled Raph forward for the feathered alien to see.

"Hmm…" The alien squeezed her black eyes as she peered up at the boy the bigger creature held firmly in place by the upper arm.

Raph moved slightly behind his captor, afraid "Feathers" was going to see something he wouldn't want her seeing – _what that was, he didn't know_ – before he was yanked back forward by the strong grip. He drew a shaky breath and could only wish no one heard that his throat and chest were tight.

The bound turtle had tried to escape his new captors two more times in the landing lot earlier – each time resulting with him getting pinned down by other passersby who hadn't seemed to be even slightly reluctant to help out a kidnapper. The first time he had gotten off pretty easily, now that Raph recalled the events, but the second time, after having his air cut off again until he had been sure he would pass out, Bulldog had had enough of his disobedience and decided to keep him restricted to low oxygen for the rest of the day – low enough to stop the kid from running off and resisting. It was thankfully still better to breathe than the air back in the city.

Raph didn't understand how a simple collar around his neck could control what chemicals his lungs received. After a while his lack of oxygen had resulted in a slowly increasing headache and exhaustion that showed no sign of stopping.

He had gotten dragged off the landing lot towards the vast wall in the distance. The turtle's nervousness had spiked when they had arrived from the almost empty lot into a massive busy crowd surrounding the entrance to what looked like a huge terminal serving as a bridge to the other side of the wall. He had been pulled into the crowded queue of countless alien species, many of whom were in the same bound situation as him. Bulldog and his hired muscle had flanked him in the line they had entered, keeping their eyes on him the whole time.

Raphael's head was painfully throbbing from a headache by that point and his stomach was twisting in discomfort. He had only then started to realize there was no escape for him. All around him were aliens that had kidnapped people with them, and if Raph so much as even thought about escaping, he would get pinned down on the spot in an instant.

The expressions of other captured aliens left him feeling scared, helpless, and _lost._ He still didn't know what was happening and asking his captors about it would have been mortifying… He had no intention of giving them any kind of satisfaction.

They had spent what felt like the most unbearable thirty minutes standing in the line before finally reaching the end to what Raph could only explain to himself as a kind of check point.

He had been dragged into one of the small rooms in the terminal that separated the ship landing ground from whatever was on the other side, where he was now hearing that he had become someone's property.

"Do you have its identification chip?" Feathers asked Bulldog.

"Sadly."

"Hmm…" The lady clicked a few tick-boxes on her computer and opened up a window to a different program. "Bring it here."

Raphael was dragged next to the old-looking alien just then understanding that "it" meant him. He tried to walk properly, but his legs were wobbly and his balance wasn't like it should be. He sucked in a sharp breath when his arm was released and he was left to stand on his own in front of the alien in the chair.

A closer look at the boy's pale face and disoriented, groggy expression told Feathers he was more than just frightened. "Are you cutting its air?" She glared at Bulldog standing behind him.

The addressed alien nervously fidgeted for a second. _"Well…"_ he began, before stepping over and quickly rotating a small cap on the metal collar around Raph's neck.

Oxygen came to Raph's lungs instantly and he coughed – almost doubled over from the sudden change. _Better, better! So much better!_

"I could report you for that." The feathered alien threw an angry eye at the dog-headed man, but decided to let him off with just a warning and proceeded with her task. – "Now, where was I?"

She pulled something small from a drawer under the desk and before Raph even realized what was happening – he was still feeling overwhelmed from being able to breathe normally and wasn't paying much attention to anything else – she quickly pricked his shoulder with the sharp object in a single controlled move, not even leaving her chair to do so.

He jumped back in surprise from the sting, but the ugly comment he had ready was lost when he saw her plug the same object into her computer, very much like a USB plug.

 _…What?_

The machine hummed up and opened up a new window on the monitor. The old alien's expressionless face scrunched up when green writing took up a small part of the screen.

"Unidentified civilian?" She pressed a few more tabs, the computer humming loudly again. "Unknown species… _Hmm…"_ She clicked and typed on her computer for a minute more, ignoring the other three standing by her side.

Raphael's head cleared a bit after being able to breathe properly for the first time in hours. But that only made him more aware of the tension in the small room, and of how terrible he was feeling. He made a step back, not fond of standing in the center of all three aliens like a display model, but was again pulled forward by the larger alien.

Bulldog warned him to behave with an annoyed glare before shuffling to Feathers' side. "Do you need help with anything?"

The old feathered alien threw him an offended, almost disgusted look. "Go back to your spot, child."

Bulldog did just that, and Raph found himself smirking despite his own misery.

"I'll call you when I need you," Feathers said, and turned back to the monitor. – "So while the computer models out the whole biological construction of its body, it has already confirmed that it's a mutation and a second class GAG."

The information made Bulldog grin from ear to ear and Raph worry ten times more. _What the heck does that mean?_

"While we wait for the rest of the bio data, we can fill out the personal information.

"So, Greenie, what's your name?"

xXx

"I should have feared this…" Fugitoid muttered once they had gotten back to the Ulixes and he hurriedly checked the Universe Wide Database on the main computer that he thankfully didn't need to turn on any frequencies for. He opened up countless articles the rest could only guess were about the aforementioned _"Singathef"._

Everyone had freaked out after learning Raph was already off the planet, but Fugitoid looked more concerned by the place he had been taken to.

"You knew this could happen? Why didn't you tell us, Professor?" Donnie exclaimed while wishing he could follow the android through the endless data he was skimming.

"I had no reason to believe Raphael is on Singathef," Fugitoid muttered as he brought up another window full of alien text. "He hasn't been missing for more than seven hours. I assumed he was in the city, like the rest of you."

"You should have at least mentioned the possibility! My brother is on _another planet,_ Fugitoid! A warning would have been nice!" Leo, suddenly beside Donatello, found himself shouting again. He was normally the one to keep a level head in pressing situations, but this place wasn't New York City and he had little to no idea how to handle the situation or plan a rescue. He couldn't help but be completely frustrated and out of place in his role as leader.

"Assumptions wouldn't have gotten us anywhere. We needed reliable leads!" the doctor defended himself, feeling as fed up with Leo's attitude as everyone else present.

"We might have had no leads!"

"Enough!" Donnie broke up the forming fight. "We _have_ a lead now. And it's on _Singathef,"_ he pronounced the word unsurely, "so standing here arguing won't get us any closer to Raph!"

Leo backed away under Donnie's unusually authoritative voice, and made way for his collected reason. His brother was right. They needed to act fast if they wanted to reach that planet in record time and find their missing brother.

It took the professor five minutes to finish his business with the alien whose platform he had parked his spacecraft on, and another five to start up the Ulixes and enter the city's vertical highway.

Everyone watched through the wide windscreen as the city got less filthy, newer, and more up-to-date with each level gained. The outside became lighter as they ascended through the fast traffic, until finally they caught a glimpse of the first sun ray between the buildings which were gradually shrinking in size.

After minutes of escalating at what looked like at least fifty miles per hour, the spaceship finally reached the top border of the skyscrapers and left the highway. The dimmed but bright sky suddenly opened up in front of them, a complete opposite to the claustrophobic rifts of the overgrown metropolitan. In the sky they could see the vast city spreading throughout the whole planet underneath them.

Fugitoid only accelerated the Ulixes' speed once they were alone in the open, and the vehicle zipped through the planet's dirty smog-filled atmosphere in mere seconds.

As they entered space, the android finally closed up most of his windows on the Universe Wide Database. He sighed after setting course and joining the rest sitting on the steps.

"We can't hyperjump to the destination. The distance isn't big enough and it's impossible to make a 180 degree curve in the process. But the Ulixes is flying at her maximum regular speed so we should arrive in about forty minutes. Maybe you should try and get at least a bit of rest in the meantime."-

"How far is the planet, Professor?" Donnie asked, looking up from where everyone sat miserable on the steps and floor. None of them had even thought of getting up to go take a nap. They couldn't sleep knowing their brother and friend had been sold to someone like property.

"Technically Singathef is not a planet. It's a place on this planet's moon, which is currently on the other side from us and it takes some time to circle a planet as large as Niktikleptis."

"A moon? Why would someone take Raph to a moon?" Mikey asked the question everyone was waiting to ask the android.

xXx

"AAAHH!" Raphael tried to pull away from the stinging jolt entering through his left upper arm and bolting down the rest of his limb and up his torso. He was held in place through the procedure, his desperate bucking futile. He unclenched his teeth as the pain slowly settled and dispersed into a dull buzz.

Looking down at his twitching bound arm where the gun-like device had been pressed moments ago, he made out the shape of something like a 2D bar code ingrained into his skin. His eyes grew to the size of saucers as countless questions foamed up in his brain – something Feathers noticed written over his horrified expression.

"Once the tag gets magnetized at checkout, it will dissolve within a day."

Raph did not want to know what it was for, already having too many brilliant ideas. He really wanted his brothers to show up already.

"And as for you, Mr. Psoh-ghlavts," Feathers turned back to the dog-headed alien, her voice sounding irritated, "you better watch out what you bring to Singathef next time. I did not forget to check over the creature's rendered bio data and didn't fail to notice its age is only 10.54 percent. You're lucky we have to round numbers to a whole when filling out forms, or else you'd be fully responsible for trying to traffic an underage child. This is not something you should make a habit of doing. I suggest you raise your age standard or you might not be so lucky next time. Singathef takes offenses very seriously. Do not test us. I already marked your profile with a warning for denying the creature breathing air."

"I was not aware of the alien's age," Bulldog replied politely, if somewhat humbly. "I assure you my interests don't lie in young age. Singathef offers more than needed to stop anyone from kidnapping underage children. As for air restriction, it was necessary to prevent the alien from harming himself."

Feathers offered Bulldog an unimpressed look but didn't open her mouth to start an argument. It wasn't part of her job to pick quarrels with clients. She handed the alien printed papers with ownership confirmation and a new identification chip for the turtle.

"I take it you know where to go from here?" she asked, providing directions and advice being part of her job as Singathef's admission accountant.

"Oh, yes."

 **xXVXx**


	9. As Far as the Eye Can See

Two of my reviewers, who I dearly love *sends kisses as they ride my roller coaster of suspense*, have brought up their concern for Raphael in this story because one of the fic's genres is Horror. I promise no severed heads will be flying around and no one will be eating anyone, and there will be no gore in this story except for a "minor" injury (which you should brace yourself for) and some scraped knees later on. I don't mean this to be a classic horror movie type story. So no Raphs will end up damaged beyond repair as this story fits back into the canon once it's done.

I intend to convey the feeling of horror mostly through emotion, atmosphere and unfamiliarity. I will explore the "mental" more than the "physical" but that'll be more clear later in the story. But yeah, this story is still not in any way for the faint of heart. You'll probably hate me by the time it's finished. So you know, _read at your own risk._

Also _Indiana Rose_ *sends more kisses and hugs* asked if I could finally at least hint at what will happen to Raphael in slavery. As a response to that I am switching the other genre from Angst to Suspense. XD

Anyway! _(I don't think this made anyone feel better. Sorry, guys!)_ Here's the link for all the warnings in this story for those of you who need them. Remove all the quotation marks ("), and tell me if it works! XD ffnet is not kind to links!

ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Nine**

 **As Far as the Eye Can See**

Feathers sent Raphael and his two captors through a different door out of the check-in office. From the small, stuffy room they stepped into an enormous open hall of a busy, sunlit kind of station.

The terminal's polished iron and brown glass cylinder ceiling reached 150 feet into the air above their heads and expanded far ahead. On the sides, there were countless arched hallways leading to other parts of the building. And in the middle, in front of the three newcomers, leading outside up ahead, were rows of platforms and roads lowered a few feet from the ground floor. Some of the shallow splits were occupied by long rectangular vehicles hovering in them just high enough for their open doors to be poised on the same level as the ground of the platforms.

The walls were echoing the hustle and bustle of the station as aliens moved all over the place, everyone rushing in their own direction.

Raph stared at the vast setting in fright and astonishment. It reminded him of the old European train stations he had seen in movies. It was also suggesting that whatever was happening to him was all a part of a deliberately planned and wealthy organization. – Amongst the crowds, there were containers, crates, and cages transported around, almost all of them occupied by more captured aliens. They were caged like animals.

Raph's stunned staring was cut short as he was pulled ahead by the strong alien who hadn't let go of his arm since he had gotten his air back.

The ruckus of the place and oxygen in the turtle's lungs were slowly pumping up his adrenaline and confidence. He felt fairly focused in the alien environment again. He admitted he was beyond scared at that point but he was nowhere close to trying to make things easy for his captors. – His eyes already started scanning the room for ways of escape.

They only crossed a few feet when he noticed a small creature in the crowd rush up to Bulldog, who was leading the way, and skip along at their pace.

"Good day, Sir! Couldn't help but notice you got a pretty costly, eye-catching pre-slave. My colleagues and I would gladly provide you with the safest and securest transpo-"

Bulldog's risen chameleon hand stopped the alien from continuing. "I already have a transporter waiting."

"But do they charge only twenty-five-"

 _"Thank you!"_ Bulldog interrupted loudly, with irritation and warning prominent in his deep voice. It stopped the alien from following them further and trying to persuade the man into an offer.

Raph watched the short alien stand still as they passed him.

The creature lingered and observed them for a moment before rushing to a new group of newcomers he noticed appear through one of the check-in office doors, an excited, friendly smile back on his face.

Raph felt sick to his stomach. These people were regarding abduction as some kind of business… And he didn't fail to notice being called a slave – or a _pre-_ slave. So he finally had a better picture of what was happening. Bulldog wanted to force him into slave labor wherever they were headed to…

He would never let him get that far.

 _There has got to be a way out of here. I could still get away now that I can breathe normally, again. If only Hulk, here, would let go of my arm for a second…_

He was taken to one of the far end platforms where a smaller van hovered.

Another dog-faced alien, this one dressed more lightly, had been leaning on the vehicle and pushed himself forward when he noticed the three approaching.

"What took you so long?" he shouted with a smile showing his straight whites.

"No identification," said Bulldog once they reached the other, younger, dog man. "And Naynya Tya Ya was giving me the cold shoulder again."

"Ms. Cranky, huh? Say no more." The new alien shuddered at the thought of the unfriendly feathered accountant before adapting his relaxed posture again. "It's good to see you, uncle."

The two bulldog-headed aliens both placed their left palms on each other's forehead and leaned into the touch, which Raph assumed was a sign of greeting.

"Nice to see you, too, nephew," Bulldog smiled.

Raph silently watched the nephew turn to the large bulky alien holding him and greeting the much taller creature with a risen fist. The large alien bumped the oddly formed fist with his own – apparently another way of greeting.

"Psoh-ghlavts eez Trenteh," the younger Bulldog introduced himself.

"Ah," bellowed the other alien in a voice which would be compared to a caveman's. It was the first time Raph heard him speak and he did his best not to laugh out loud – from the stupid name and in hysteria from his own misery. _He was held captive by a guy named "Ah"!_

The nephew then finally seemed to notice him, too. Raph half expected to be greeted as well but the nephew, after looking him over, quickly redirected his gaze back at his uncle who had already opened the side door to the hover van, eager to get in.

"Is that a GAG?"

"It is," Bulldog grinned. He stopped mid step into the van and turned around so he could boast in front of his nephew for a minute.

"Ha! Where'd you score that?" the nephew laughed excitedly as he stared at the turtle.

"Some Niktikleptian lowlife. I got him for the price of a fifth class thinking he was a third class. Even turned out he's a second class."

"Second class! Heh! I'm starting to think I should charge you more for this ride." The younger alien was checking Raph from head to toe again.

The boy shrunk under the intense gaze, his stomach flaring with anger and embarrassment, just wishing he could simply punch the dog across his ugly mug to make him look away.

"Those idiots have no idea what they had. He'll make me a good fortune. I won't have to come back here and look at Tya's feathered face for at least half a year."

The younger alien reached for Raphael's face with his odd hand.

Raph immediately dodged it, pulling himself out of reach. "Back off!" he growled. He won't let the alien poke him for amusement like some plaything.

At Raph's reaction, the nephew's friendly face darkened into a grim one. "Doesn't look like he's been taught any manners, this one. Someone needs to teach him a lesson in obedience." He looked at his uncle expecting the man to punish the green alien for snapping at him.

"Ignore him," Bulldog dismissed the idea and returned to enter the vehicle. "He'll have plenty of time for that with his future owner."

The lack of reaction angered Raphael even more than a punishment would. He wasn't viewed as a prisoner anymore, if he ever even was. To them, he was just another errand that had to be done.

When the nephew turned to get in the van, too, Raph couldn't help himself and pushed his foot in front of his, determined to be as annoying and impossible as he could.

The dog-man tripped over the large foot and fell to the ground clumsily.

Raph would have grinned and waited for his reaction no matter what the consequences would have been, but the giant alien who was holding him reluctantly loosened his stone grip for only a second, wanting to help the fallen creature. Raph instantly used the opportunity to pull himself out of the hold.

He immediately dashed forward down the platform out of their reach. He couldn't have been more glad of the results his reckless behavior led to.

He heard the already familiar shouts behind him as he forced all his strength and energy into moving his legs. It would have been so much easier to run if his hands weren't bound behind his shell. He ran towards the empty end of the station that led outside, because going back into the crowds would have been just foolish. He jumped onto the lowered road – the one on the other side of the platform, not the one his captors' van was on – and proceeded to run towards the outside of the enormous station.

As he finally reached the outside, the sun, which was previously dimmed by the honey brown glass, blinded him for a moment. But the panic and adrenaline inside Raphael pushed him to continue running no matter what. He crossed another ten feet when his vision cleared. – Unfortunately a moment too late. The solid ground under his feet suddenly disappeared and he found himself falling another twenty feet before hitting a metal container.

His unprepared legs couldn't take all of the force of the impact and he smacked to the side onto his shoulder and still bound arm. In the impact, the acute rim of his shell dug hard into the triceps of his arm underneath and split up his skin and muscle into a wide gash. Raph hardly swallowed down his scream, his teeth gnashing from the pain, _"Nnngh!"_

Disoriented but determined, he ignored the agonizing pain and made it back to his feet. He needed to get away!

His eyes widened at the scenery that opened up in front of him.

From where he stood on the container beneath the large station, he could see stacked shipping containers, crates, boxes, tents as far as his gaze reached. It was just like an enormous, endless, shipping port in the middle of a desert.

Warm blood trickled out of the open wound down his arm, and a cold feeling wrapped itself around Raph's stomach where he stood petrified.

His panic reached a completely new level.

 **xXVXx**


	10. The Useful

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

 _Indiana Rose,_ you got it wrong! I didn't change the Horror. I changed the Angst. Now the story is Horror & Suspense instead of Horror & Angst. You think _way_ too nicely of me! I'm a bigger meanie than you probably think! 3:D

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Ten**

 **The Useful**

Raphael slumped down on the ground behind a row of large stacked containers. His heart still hammered under his plastron from the quick escape he had to make to avoid getting spotted by Bulldog and his posse immediately after his not-so-graceful fall from the station's takeoff platform.

He looked down at his throbbing right arm. Blood oozed from the painful, wide gash on his triceps but it seemed to be stopping slowly. His arms were still tightly bound behind his shell and the rim of his carapace uncomfortably chafed the fresh cut. He couldn't thoroughly examine the injury and so had to judge it by how much it hurt.

 _It usually isn't as bad as it feels – hopefully…_

He twisted his wrists behind him trying to loosen the chafing rope. When that didn't do anything, he tried finding a slightly more comfortable position for his injured arm.

 _"Air restriction is necessary to prevent the alien from harming himself…"_ he grumbled Bulldog's earlier lying excuse, hollowly chuckling at the cruel irony.

Sitting in the cool shadow with his legs sprawled, he uncomfortably leaned against the metal container behind him. Collared, with one arm wounded and the other one branded like a store product, he let out a shuddering breath, feeling like runaway cattle.

Vehicles flew over his head, leaving and arriving at the terminal a few hundred feet away. Raph was hidden well in the narrow passage between two high rows of shipping containers, and for the moment didn't worry about getting spotted from above. His tired mind wandered off to a different problem. How was he going to contact the team? He had no idea where he was and every person he encountered so far only cared about recapturing him. He couldn't rely on anyone at all. What in the world could he do?

Maybe the guys were tracking him down step by step and it would have been wiser to stay with Bulldog's ugly mug until they found him… And what about Mikey and Casey!? If they had been captured, too, maybe Bulldog would have taken him to wherever they were, too…

Raph let out a frustrated growl, but in the end still came to the conclusion that finding a way back on his own was better than waiting for help that might not even come. He really wished he could just wait for his brothers to rescue him but he understood he couldn't depend on them when he didn't even know where they were.

He pulled his knees closer and straightened his back while trying to think of what to do next. He was feeling very exhausted and sleepy all of a sudden. He hadn't even slept – unless he counted passing out as sleeping – since hours _before_ they had gone on their last mission to steal a part of the black-hole generator from the Triceratons. His head felt groggy and his chest hurt. – Half from being forced to slowly suffocate, and half from the panic that was building up and never decreasing.

He rubbed his itching snout and tired eyes on his kneepads. – First of all, he'd definitely have to find a way to get his hands free.

 _Good plan, let's go!_ He was already restless and impatient despite how tired and stressed out he felt. He didn't like sitting around and thinking too much. It frustrated him. _Just find something sharp, cut the rope, get free. Simple, effective, doable._

He pulled himself to his feet and shook his head to clear his brain a bit. _Alright! Where to?_ It wasn't like he had much of a choice. He simply started to proceed down the opposite way he had come from, away from the station's noise, and as far away from Bulldog as possible.

Minutes went by, but the maze of stacked shipping crates and containers stretched endlessly and Raph's every new step seemed to drag more. The cold and dry earth beneath his feet was making his toes go numb. But the air was warm and humid and his open wound only started to throb more over time, making his whole upper arm feel hot.

Every turn he made brought him to a passage completely identical to the previous ones. He knew he wasn't walking in circles, but he really wondered if he was making progress toward anywhere at all. Everything was the same and nothing led anywhere. And there was nothing that could help him unbind his hands.

In anger and frustration he kicked the metal crate beside him and was completely startled by another startled sound that came from the inside. _Someone was inside._

 _"Hello?"_ came the same muffled voice after a moment of shuffling. _"Who's there?"_

Raph stood soundlessly, riveted to the spot. His voice left him as he stared at the metal crate in front him with shocked, wide eyes. But then his eyes swept over the whole stack of identical crates on top of it, and the stacks next to it, and the stacks next to those – and Raph started to feel very sick very fast.

 _"Is someone there?"_ he heard someone else's muffled voice behind him, and he couldn't bear to even look.

 _"Did someone bring new food?"_ another voice came next to it.

 _"Food?"_

 _"Hello?"_

Raphael's breathing started to quicken. His panic was flaring up again. In the next moment his body betrayed him and he did the most cowardly thing he could. – He ran. Without a word, he broke from the spot he was frozen to, and escaped down the passage. He didn't want to stay there. There was a strong pang of guilt and embarrassment in his chest as he ran, but he knew he couldn't help those aliens no matter how much he wanted to. He couldn't even help himself at the moment. And he didn't feel like listening to other captured people call out to him while he could only stand around uselessly.

The air around him felt suffocating and the tall walls of stacked containers started making him feel claustrophobic. Even though he didn't want to know the answer, he wondered just how many of the crates and containers he had already passed were filled with people.

His run came to a halt as he turned another corner and the containers around him disappeared, revealing cages in their place. Raph's shoulders tensed up as all the unsuspecting eyes inside them turned to him.

 _"An escapee?" – "Here?" – "It's hurt!" – "Look!" – "Who's that?" – "It's so small." – "Did it escape?" – "Where's its owner?" – "It's just a child!" – "Poor thing." – "Is that blood?" – "Where's its owner?" – "It looks scared." – "Did it manage to escape?" – "It's in shock." – "It's wounded!"_

Whispered words flooded Raphael from both sides and he again found himself unable to move, his breath painfully stuck in the back of his throat.

All the large cages on both sides of him held giant, furry, dusty purple creatures inside them. In their massive size they looked dangerous and scary at first glance, but the way they all bundled together and stared at Raph in concern told him he shouldn't be afraid of them at the moment. They were all locked up and unable to harm him anyways.

As most of them continued to whisper remarks in worry to each other, one extended its arm through the thick but widespread bars. "Are you hurt? – Let us help you get that rope off."

Raphael, completely lost in the frenzy of his own mind, didn't hear it, or notice the enormous hand until it grabbed his shoulder. He instantly pulled away from the touch, a pang of terror rushing down his spine. _"AAAH!"_

It wasn't until he actually got a better look at what touched him that he let himself calm down a bit. His cheeks flushed from the cowardly response as the faces directed at him only grew more worried.

"Impressive vocals. Now let us help you with that," the alien gestured at Raphael's bound arms.

xXx

"Let me help you with that, Mikey." Donatello took the helmet from Michelangelo's hands and placed it on the high shelf his younger brother couldn't reach. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

"Just trying to keep myself busy, I guess," Mikey shrugged with his gaze downcast.

They stood in Fugitoid's equipment room. Donatello had passed the door on his way to meet the professor in the control room but had noticed his little brother inside alone, putting away all of their gear.

"You know we'll need the gear again in a few minutes?"

"Well at least future me's gonna be busy, too," Mikey said, hardly any emotion present in his voice, and plopped down on a bench.

"Hey now, Mikey, chin up." Donnie sat down beside him and draped an arm over his shoulders, squeezing it slightly. He didn't like seeing his brother so sad.

Now that they had all settled a bit after almost half an hour of driving towards the moon, everyone had only started to worry about Raphael more, with new awful ideas and images taking root. Still Donatello didn't feel like seeing his little brother so down when they should all be trying to keep their hopes and thoughts positive, as he liked to say.

"Everything's going to turn out okay. It's like you told Leo: When one of us is captured, we always get each other back safely. Raph's going to be alright."

"You think so?" Mikey finally looked at his youngest older brother. He smiled at him, more from the effort than believing the words. "But it still sucks! Raph has to be super panicky and scared by now. – I mean, he'll never admit it, but still, I doubt he knows what's going on around him. Aliens are all kinds of weird and freaky."

"We'd all be scared, Mikey. It _is_ scary. But Raph's a tough and stubborn guy. For his own sake, I'm mostly worried about him getting on someone's nerves."

"He sure has a talent for that!" Mikey smirked despite how worried he felt. He could no longer ignore the twinge of guilt he felt for Raph's abduction. And the closer they got to finding him, the more complicated and hopeless everything seemed.

xXx

Within a minute Raphael's arms were free. He immediately pulled them forward, rubbed his sore wrists, and rolled his stiff shoulders. _Much better! So much better!_

"Thanks!" He almost grinned at the alien that had untied the tight rope which now lay forgotten on the floor. He was relieved to at least feel a bit more confident and free. He was finally capable of doing a little more than just helplessly running around.

He moved to do a few arm circles, too, but it resulted in a stabbing pain entering his right arm. _"Aghh…"_ he hissed. _"Bad choice…"_

Slowly lifting his arm, he was finally able to inspect the bloody gash. The blood had stopped oozing some time ago, but it left a wide, dried, crimson streak down his whole arm. The cut was quite wide and stung immensely, but it wasn't deep or critical. What concerned Raph was the amount of pus forming on it and the reddened skin around it. He couldn't afford an infection!

"Let us see…" the alien who untied him spoke and grabbed Raphael's wrist. It pulled and extended his arm closer to the metal bars.

Raph complied, not wishing to test the strength of the giant being with his injured arm. He stood intently watching the alien look over the wound.

After a minute, the large creature shifted slightly. "Hold still." Still holding Raph's wrist, it used its other hand to pluck some of the puffy fur from its shoulder and press the purple tuft against the wound.

Raph winced a little but didn't pull away, feeling a sort of reassurance radiating from under the alien's hand that was suppressing his instincts. Looking at the process in confusion, Raph watched the alien lick one of its fingers, coating it in saliva, and apply that over the wound and hair.

By then Raph was seriously puzzled. His groggy brain was unfocused enough to not even warn him that he shouldn't let a strange alien smear anything over his infected wound, especially not its spit. But when his mind finally processed the information, his eyes noticed the purple hair melting under the spit and the weird new paste dissolving into his gash and skin.

Before panic could bubble up, a cool feeling spread through his previously hot and throbbing limb and decreased the sting in the open gash.

"It should heal by the end of the day. Just try to leave it alone as much as possible," the alien said and let go of his wrist.

Raph stared at the wound. The reddened skin around it was already turning back to its regular green. _"Just like that?"_

The alien recognized the astounded expression on his face. "Pretty useful, right?"

 _Useful…_ Raph looked back up and stared at the cages. He was starting to get a good idea what these aliens were captured for. An intense need to do something took over. He couldn't just leave these people in cages now that he had his hands free, especially not after they helped him.

His eyes swept the enclosure in front of him in search of a door or a lock or- His eyes caught something like a touchpad on one of the thick bars.

"I'll get you out," he declared and moved over to the device. He poked the dark screen with his finger and immediately frowned. It didn't respond and there weren't any buttons on it. "Do you know how it works? Have you seen anyone use this?" he asked the alien who helped him, who moved to stand closest to him again.

"Can you speak Universal?" the giant creature said.

Raph's brows wrinkled under his mask. He didn't understand the question.

The alien noticed the confusion and continued, pointing with two big fingers at Raph's neck. "We don't have translators. We can't understand you. – Do you know the Universal language?"

 _They can't understand me? But I can understand them perfectly?_ The boy needed a moment to remember that the collar still clasped around his neck was also a translator which allowed him to understand everyone's alien languages.

Shaking his head at the aliens staring at him, he answered, "No."

"We're assuming that's a 'no'," said the creature in slight disappointment.

Raphael was frustrated just the same. He wanted to ask the aliens how to help them escape and ask them where he even was and what was going on. He had to satisfy himself by simply pointing at the lock device, hoping to get the point across. – _"How does it work?"_

"You want to open the cage to get us out? – We'd rather stay in here, thank you."

Raphael was taken aback by the answer. "What?"

"It's not like we can go anywhere. We prefer to keep out of trouble. We're surprised you're hiding from your owner like this. Who knows what they'll do"-

Another slightly bigger alien behind the one Raphael talked with, knocked it on the head to shut it up. "Don't say that to the child! Look how terrified it is now."

Raph didn't like admitting it but he really was scared. Aliens freaked him out. Threatening alien surroundings even more so.

"Why the heck would you rather stay in cages like some animals when you have a chance to get out? And why are you surprised I ran off? Why the heck would I want to get sold into slavery?!" he started arguing, partly forgetting he couldn't be understood and partly because the questions wouldn't leave him alone otherwise. His voice was loud and nervous. "I don't want to be locked up like you! Are you crazy? I want to get back to my brothers. Those insane aliens don't own me. No one does!"

"Child, calm down." The bigger alien moved to the front, right behind the bars. "Don't listen to our friend. Everything will be alright. Please don't panic." It extended its arms through the cage and Raphael found himself leaning towards them despite himself.

The purple creature gently cupped his head in its large warm palms, and a wave of cool calm and comfort flooded the boy's mind. His racing heart was slowed down and his breaths were evened out instantly. Only then did Raph start to feel just how worn out and tired he was. He subconsciously leaned further into the touch wishing the consoling feeling would last forever.

"Go back to your owner and apologize for running away. They might understand and won't punish you."

"What!?" He tore himself away and fell down in the process. "I'm not going back!" His breathing hitched up again and his heart started thumping against his plastron even faster after disconnecting from the alien's healing touch.

Worried and wide eyes all stared at him on the ground.

"It's for your own good."

"You need to confess to them for misbehaving," a different alien spoke up.

"Don't worry, they'll understand. You probably aren't the first to do that to them."

"They won't hurt you, you're only a child."

Raphael stared at them in horror as his brain processed their words. Why were they on the side of the ones keeping them all captured? He pushed himself back to his feet, suddenly having a great need to get away.

"You must go back on your own or you'll be punished worse when they find you hiding."

"Return to your owner."

"I won't!" Raph screamed back, angered and terrified. _They're insane!_ He turned on his heel and started walking away in the direction he was headed earlier. With a nervous pace he quickly made his way down the path surrounded by cages filled with the same species of big, purple aliens talking to him.

"Go back."

"Turn around, don't go that way."

He grabbed the sides of his head, trying to block out what they were saying.

"Don't go there!"

"Stop!"

" _Shhh… Be quiet."_

"Go back."

"No, turn around."

 _"Keep it down."_

"Child…"

 _"Shhhhh…"_

 _"Shh…"_

 _…_

"Don't go there, child."

 _"Shush!"_

 _…_

 _…_

The aliens finally quieted down when Raph made it to the end of the cages and he slowly lowered his hands from his ears. Cautiously he turned his head around to see what made them all shut up. There wasn't anything there. The aliens were just all intensely gesturing for him to go back with wide eyes…

He only made it another step further when he felt an odd sensation in his left upper arm. He quickly looked at the spot where the barcode was ingrained. It felt funny, like a magnet was pulling his blood in one direction.

 _"Huh…?"_

Raph didn't even get a second to ponder over it as a loud alarm went off on both sides of him and scared him to death. His head snapped in the direction of one of them and he found himself staring at a wide blinking board much like the anti-theft surveillance systems in stores back on Earth.

…

"Hey!"

Raphael's blood ran cold as his head turned in the direction of the voice.

 **xXVXx**

Please feed the author. Feed me... _FEED meh!_ Give me some boost because I'm kinda scared of posting the next chapter... O_O


	11. New Threat

I had been getting less reviews with every chapter for a while but last chapter was such a pleasant surprise with so many people showing their interest! It really made me excited for posting this story. :D Although I think it made me even more nervous about posting this chapter, though!

 _Chapter 11 is rated M_

This is it, the chapter that I am afraid will make me lose followers. This one has a nasty shock factor and if you'll become unsure whether you'll want to keep reading my story after this chapter _PLEASE_ read my notes at the end! This fic is still rated T (or 15+) but read at your own risk! I really do hope you all stay because the plot moves in a very (hopefully) unique way. I'm almost 100% sure you haven't read anything like it and my beta agrees. So y'know, keep reading the story if you wanna get to that part. ;)

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Chapter 11 also includes the warning from the seventh point. But if you still don't want to look at the warnings list I'll just hint that this story doesn't completely ignore what real life slavery and trafficking is like and what large numbers of victims are used for. Some chapters in this fic deal with more M rated situations/ideas (some imaginary, some very real), but since it's mostly just mentions there's no need for panicking, folks!

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Eleven**

 **New Threat**

Using his left forearm, Raphael blocked the hand that tried to grab him by the collar for the fourth time already. He quickly aimed a punch at the unprotected stomach with his unoccupied but injured arm. His movement was terribly sloppy in comparison to what he would normally be capable of. Still, the punch was powerful enough to send the assaulting alien two steps back and make her clutch her stomach between her four arms.

 _"Erghh! You little"-_

Raph didn't give her a chance to collect herself. His body was overwhelmed by adrenaline and instinct. He immediately swept her lanky legs from under her. She fell back, hit her head against the metal bars of a cage beside them, and landed on the cracked, dry ground in a heap of limbs.

"What did you do!?" one of the large purple aliens in the cage beside them cried out, clutching its head in shock as it stared at the unconscious person on the ground below it.

Raph didn't pay it much attention, feeling more than satisfied to finally bring down someone who had tried to capture him.

The fight – if it could even be called that, as pathetic as it was from both sides – lasted only a few seconds but it left Raph completely breathless. The alien was obviously not skilled in combat and the fact that she seemed like a challenge was concerning him. She wasn't even very big or strong like some of the aliens he had encountered so far.

He stood watching her lying by his feet. She was the same species as the drug dealer that had started Raph's whole nightmarish experience. A sudden need to kick her for that fact alone sprang up in him. He let the thought go with another shuddering exhale.

He was so tired…

"Poor thing…" One of the purple beings beside her brought its arms through the bars and gently cradled the alien's limp head in its large palms, feeling for injuries. Another one of them placed a hand on her chest feeling for signs of life.

"She's just unconscious."

"She should be okay."

Raph silently watched the display with mixed emotions. He was angry, and freaked out, and content with his violent act, having the right to protect himself, but something like unjustified guilt started taking root while he watched the purple creatures help the unconscious woman like she was the victim and not him…

His head hurt from lack of oxygen and a sudden vertigo forced him to grab hold of a metal bar for support. He waited for his vision to return before fully collecting his stance.

What was he supposed to do now? Where was he supposed to go? There were alarm systems rigged around and he could easily walk into another one…

"Qx?"

Raph's head jerked up in the direction of the unfamiliar voice.

At the end of the passage, a few feet ahead, where the alien by his feet had come running from, stood two more tall figures on scaly raptor legs. Their round yellow eyes danced between the fallen alien and turtle.

Their puzzled expressions gradually darkened into grim ones.

That was Raphael's cue to turn on his heels and bolt between the cages in the direction he had come.

"Hhhey!"

Raph broke into a sprint. He had briefly considered staying and fighting them, would have happily done so any day, but today wasn't any day. He didn't feel confident he could even land a successful punch anymore.

He peered back over his shoulder when he turned behind the first stack of containers. He saw one of the raptor aliens was kneeling down beside the unconscious woman while the other one decided to chase after him.

Panic pushed Raphael's tired muscles to move faster. He was positive the tall alien would catch up to him eventually. – He was too worn to be able to run for long and outrunning her didn't seem like a possibility. He'd have to try and lose her in the intersections.

Raphael began to make sharp turns in the passages between containers, trying to be unpredictable, but the alien was right behind him and always caught sight of his shell just as he turned the next corner.

He was chased for more than a minute before he made another sharp turn where a passage split into two directions – and almost tackled into another raptor alien arriving from just behind the corner.

"Ah!" Raph barely stopped without crashing into him.

"Ha!" The alien jumped back in surprise at his sudden presence, but the boy had already scrambled around and bolted down the other way before he could even get a good look at him.

"Glendenssse!"

The alien looked down the passage the small green creature came from, in the direction of the call, only to see his coworker running towards him.

"Dart him, Glendence, dammit!" the alien shouted at the startled and confused man, once noticing the dart gun in his scaly hand.

Glendence quickly collected his composure and joined her in the chase.

"I don't have tranq darts in it," he gestured to the weapon in his hands as they turned a corner only to see the turtle's back already disappear behind the next one.

"Then hhhit him with whatever you got in there before he getss away. It'll at least slow him down. Hhe beat up Qx!"

"Isssshhe okay?!"

They rushed down a new passage, gradually reducing the distance between them and the green creature.

"Hhhope ssso."

Their large raptor legs worked well in their advantage as they easily made sharp turns with their claws digging for support into the smooth ground. Glendence prepared his gun as they approached a new passage, ready to hit the escapee with a dart. Just as they made the sharp turn, they only saw a millisecond of green at the end of the corridor before the runaway was already out of sight.

"That evasssive sserpent!" he grunted but only quickened his run so he would have more time to aim in the next section.

"Still your arms and shoulders. And sswitchh to auto target if you can!"

"Shhut it, Orto. I'd like to ssssee you try running and aiming at a moving target at the same time!" he scowled at his coworker just as they made another turn.

"Don't look at me! Sshhoot hhim!"

Glendence quickly turned his gaze ahead, feeling stupid for losing his concentration so easily. The passage they entered was longer and the runaway still hadn't reached the other end. He stilled his shoulders, slowed down his run and carefully aimed at the small creature. He almost had the green alien in position when Orto exclaimed "Shhoot!" and he pulled the trigger.

Just before he reached the corner, Raphael heard a pang behind him. He felt a prick in his thigh right before he jumped out of sight. His raspy breath hitched in his throat.

Looking down, he saw a bright yellow dart sticking out of his leg. _They hit me!_ He quickly slapped it off, not stopping his run in the meantime, hoping that the tranquilizer hadn't gotten into his system yet.

It was an empty wish, and he only increased his already slowing speed in hope of finding a hiding spot before the drug kicked in.

 _Please please please let there be somewhere to hide…_

He felt like a lab rat in a maze as he ran through the passages between the rising containers. He didn't know where he was going, blindly making turns, trying to be as unpredictable as possible, with no success.

He made another sharp turn in his frantic flight, his feet sliding on the smooth ground, and he had to use his hands to scramble back up. His chest heaved and heart thumped rapidly. He felt like a coward. He had never been the one to run away from the enemy, always wanting to stay and finish the fight when his older brother called retreat, but the fear clutching his heart was overwhelming and Raphael just wanted to get out of danger at all costs.

xXx

Casey moved his position on the uncomfortable couch for the third time in under a minute, then gave up and sat straight back up, cupping his head in his hands. "What's takin' so long?! – This ship can travel through half o' space in a second but needs an hour to go around a stupid planet?"

"You heard Fugitoid, we can't hyperjump such a small distance," answered Leonardo monotonously, despite feeling just as restless. He sat beside Casey, and, unlike the hockey player, had been still as a statue, his chin resting on one bent knee. _Small…_ He considered the adjective he had used. A distance so enormous his brain couldn't even comprehend the length of it and he described it as _"small"._ If that's what it was, then planet Earth was a tiny grain in comparison to the moon they were flying to. And they – they were practically nothing in that case, not even a speck. Now try finding "nothing" in a place you cannot cover even in a million lifetimes… Leo's stomach clenched up, wishing he could hold his missing brother and not think about whether he'll ever even see him again.

"When this is all over we're gonna be Raph's punchin' bag for at least a week I bet." Casey leaned back, his arms crossed behind his head. He pretended to act casual, hoping to fool himself into not thinking too much about his best friend at the mercy of creepy aliens.

Leo's shoulders somehow slumped even more than they already were. He hated himself for being glad that Casey said "when" instead of "if". Why was he feeling so hopeless? He shouldn't lose hope so quickly. – He was the leader of the team, the big brother. Big brothers weren't hopeless. They were determined!

Casey noticed the misery on Leo's face and instantly wanted it gone. "Bet Raph's giving a hard time to whoever was stupid enough to take 'im," he said with a tone that implied he wanted Leonardo to invest into something that could turn into a distracting and, maybe, slightly uplifting conversation.

Leo looked towards his human friend with something that was weighing between desperation and exasperation. "Jones…" he started, but never got to finish.

"He's probably going all gladiator-style, head-first at 'em! Karate choppin' 'em one by one – but like _ninjutsu_ choppin'. Those freaks will probably beg us to take 'im back." Casey grinned and leaned forward towards Leo, suddenly imagining Raphael in an arena busting heads until alien goo came out.

Leo chuckled and shook his head. He wouldn't be surprised if Casey turned out to be an alien too, from how weird he was.

"I bet five space bucks we're gonna find Raph wearing a space gladiator skirt and 'Brave Heart' face paint."

" _Pfff…_ You clearly don't know anything about space, Casey," Leo rolled his eyes.

"Don't come at me with Space Heroes facts, geek boy!"

Leo cracked a smile and Casey returned a wider one, even if it was slightly forced.

The young leader finally saw what his friend was doing and something tugged at his insides, not knowing if the feeling was good or bad. – Casey Jones was an idiot but his heart was in the right place. He understood Casey said those things to bring him back a little, but they were partly true. Raphael wasn't the helpless and scared baby brother Leo suddenly wanted to think of him as. He was Raphael, the fierce, hotheaded muscle of the team with a strong passionate flame burning inside him. He was a force to be reckoned with – even when abducted by aliens.

xXx

Raphael really wanted to continue his run to find a hiding spot-

His muscles were detached from a nauseating pain that was spreading from his darted thigh, and his organs felt like they were twisting and knotting themselves together. He struggled to swallow back the sickness and continue to move through the passage on his wobbly legs that hardly held his weight anymore.

He had shaken off the two scaly aliens but it would not be long until they found him again.

Raph's breathing came in strained gasps. Vertigo completely mushed his panicked brain with black and white splotches, his vision one moment intensely sharp and the next blurry.

"Ugh!" He skidded into a metal container and hardly caught himself with his half obeying arm. The ground under him felt unsteady, like he was being rocked on a stormy sea. His legs made only three more successful steps before he lost all sense of balance. Up suddenly felt right and down felt forward until it all mushed together and Raph didn't know where he was falling, wasn't sure if he was moving at all, until he found himself crumpled up on his side with dirt sticking to his sweaty skin as he continued to tremble.

His heart was hammering in his ears like that of a rabbit.

"There you arrre," he heard a sharp voice near him.

The aliens found the young turtle, appearing from behind a stack of crates like a pack of scary velociraptors. They halted at the balled up sight of him.

Raph peered at them from the corner of his eye, hiding most of his face behind his kneepads. His vision kept focusing in and out and he needed a moment to realize he was in fact looking at two aliens and not seeing double.

The boy groaned and shifted as fear suddenly took hold of his stomach again, making it clench and flip. There was no control left in his muscles that would allow him to get up and try to run away again. He knew it was pointless. But he still bit the bullet and turned himself onto his unsteady knees and pushed himself up.

The two aliens curiously stood in place and watched the turtle struggle to his feet.

Raph's hands needed to change their position half a dozen times until he was finally slightly steady. His legs eventually successfully found their way underneath him to push him up. But before he even straightened his back, his body completely tipped to one side. His arms extended out to catch him, but flew out in all the wrong directions, completely disoriented as he started falling to the side, then the other side, then finally forward landing onto his face, producing a single startled yelp.

"Ahhaha!" The alien that had started chasing Raphael first cackled. "Thisss couldn't hhave looked worssse even if hhe practisssed!"

"Fella'sss quivering like a leaf in the wind! Doesn't look like hhe can tolerate zayeban poison at all," the second alien, the one with the dart gun now strapped over his back, hissed amusingly as they started to circle Raph like vultures, watching him uncomfortably tremble on the ground where he had balled up again.

Raphael bit back a frustrated growl that choked him under their presence. They didn't even move to grab him and restrain him, and found more joy in mocking him. A stabbing hurt entered his rapidly beating heart and he again tried to get up.

"He sshhould live – right, Glendenssse?" Orto casually swept Raph's arm from under him with her foot when the boy strained to lift himself up again, and made him drop right back to the dusty ground.

"Back off!" Raph barked.

His whiny comment was, however, entirely ignored by the two who continued to talk over him. They started chatting about what to do with him and even about completely irrelevant subjects regarding their work for what felt like minutes.

Orto's gaze redirected down when her foot had accidentally brushed against the skin of the trembling alien beneath them. What should they do with him? "Should we take this one to the hhealersss? I don't want trouble with his owner."

She crouched down to better see the boy by her feet. She poked him a few times, more for amusement than anything else. "Hey, who'ss your owner, boy?" She smiled disturbingly wide and displayed her sharp set of teeth.

Raph aimed a punch that completely missed the alien who didn't even flinch.

"Well?"

"No one," he rasped out spitefully, feeling embarrassed of how inept he was when he should have been able to take on both of them without a problem.

Orto stood back up. "Believe whateverrr you wantt," she growled and planted a foot onto the turtle's carapace.

 _"Urgh!"_

Glendence sent his coworker a sharp look, disgruntled by the act. – "Let'sss just take him back to camp instead of the healersss, it'sss closer and I got ssome antidote there anyway. – We have to sscan him and contact hisss owner, so we can get back to work."

"Yeah, yeah. I didn't forget," Orto exhaled, her amusement gone. She slightly stomped Raph's shell again just to see if she'd get any more reaction out of the boy, aside from a nasty look, before laying her clawed foot back on the ground.

Raph squeezed his eyes shut in pain and humiliation and wished they would just tie him up and throw him in a cage already, and not dance around him, regarding him like a powerless little nobody at their mercy. He in no way wanted to accept that he was _voluntarily_ helplessly lying in front of slave drivers making no successful moves in getting away.

He still had the energy to scream at them, tell them to back off, just leave him alone, but he feared he would look like an even bigger joke to them if he tried.

After another minute of more pointless banter between the two workers, who seemed to be exploiting their unofficial work break, he finally felt scaly hands on his upper arms. They both pulled him up and thankfully avoided the still healing gash across his muscle.

Raph was hoisted to his wobbly legs and a stinging pain ripped through his trembling body. "A-ah!" he involuntarily cried.

His head swam. His balance system was again completely agitated from the sudden change. The ground underneath him swayed and he tipped back into one of the aliens behind him before he frantically pushed himself away. His feet were unsuccessful in finding stability. His vision blurred out and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. The disoriented feeling was making him sick.

The only thing keeping him from falling down were the claws holding him up. The two aliens pulled him straight up again and held him firmly in place.

"Woah there, buster! Nice mating danssssse or whatever you call that performanssse you jusst did," Orto laughed out loud, not bothered that neither of the two liked her joke.

Raphael's cheeks burned and he wanted to just fall through the ground and disappear.

Glendence was frowning at his coworker again, but it was quickly replaced with curiosity when he got a better look at the boy.

"Hhey, look at that! It's a GAG! I heard about these fellasss. – What'ss a perssonal slave doing in an extracting disstrict?"

"Lemme sssee," his coworker pulled Raph towards her. She looked at his face which Raph made sure was scowling. The alien still wasn't fazed by the mean look she was receiving and continued talking. "He mussst have esscaped from the check-in port a few dektas from hhere."

"A trouble maker, huh?"

"A violent one undoubtedly," Orto wrinkled her face and shook Raph's arm to rattle the boy up and make him look away from her. "Qx wasss knocked out cold when we sshhowed up only a few blinksss after her. Though I got to admit, I'm going to be driving her nutsss for the next few weeksss for getting beat up by ssuch a tiny child."

She rattled Raphael some more and the turtle's jolted brain couldn't handle any more dizziness. His face paled up as he turned sick. Unexpectedly, he tore himself free from the two grips, dropped to his knees before he could puke over himself, and emptied his stomach on the ground.

"Eeeww!" Glendence wrinkled his face, watching the small alien gasp for breath. "Let'ss get him to camp. He looksss even worssse now."

The two pushed the turtle away from the puddle of vomit and forced him onto his stomach. They began to tie his wrists behind his shell.

Raphael's head was a mess of vertigo, panic, and embarrassment. His raspy throat began to hurt from the stomach acid, and his chest heaved like he had just stopped from a long sprint. He didn't try to fight the two off, and was just hoping to get to the antidote one of them mentioned as soon as possible. The cramping pain hurt too badly and he just wanted to be relieved of it.

"Hisss owner better pay us for all thisss trouble – and my dartss too! I bet I can fool him into paying good money for this cheap sstuff."

After Raphael's wrists had been bound together tightly with a leash, Orto immediately pulled it forward and forced Raph's arms to twist out and up.

His injured triceps throbbed as it uncomfortably stretched back over the carapace. A cry of pain escaped his gritted teeth.

"Get up, kid!" cheered Orto. "We don't have all day for thisss. You'll have plenty of time to moan and whine when you wait for your owner at camp."

The rope was forcefully pulled again. Another miserable cry escaped Raphael while he struggled to work his legs up.

xXx

Leonardo leaned back on the couch, grateful that Casey, of all people, kept his mind from getting swallowed by horrible thoughts. He wished he could work on a plan to rescue Raph as they traveled towards Singathef, but there was nothing for him to work with. Fugitoid had left them all alone when he had begun to study the information he could find about the moon on his computer. They had all wanted to help the android go through the data but had been disappointed to see everything in unknown writing and language…

He turned his gaze towards Casey beside him. "What do you think they really want Raph for?" he asked, wishing for an honest opinion.

Casey considered the question for a moment instead of blurting out a stupid answer. He was honestly clueless. There were too many possibilities and none he'd like to see his friend forced into. His thoughts jumped to cage fighting first and he cursed himself for even thinking about something so stupid.

"Probably like for manual labor. He's strong so maybe they'll force 'im into like slavery or somethin'." He didn't like that answer any better but at least it didn't degrade Raphael that much.

Leo snorted, his expression blank and his eyes lost again.

Casey watched him silently, not knowing where his thoughts had wandered to.

"Punching bags for a week, you say?" Leo said at last, imagining Raph enslaved, being forced to plow fields like an ox, while keeping all his resentment and humiliation smoldering inside him. – "Month more like it."

xXx

Raphael stood considerably still, getting chained to a metal pole.

He had been dragged in front of a large tent on an empty field in the middle of a small workers camp. Glendence had left in search of the antidote, after the two aliens had scanned his barcode tattoo with a hand-sized device they had found in the tent. They had contacted his dog-faced owner that had showed up in his revealed data, after they had both made some distasteful remarks over the "overbearing, sstupid, haughty, heads-up-their-assssesss" psoh-ghlavts species. – They had, however, both been surprised and somewhat amazed when skimming Raph's own information and classifications and started considering the boy they recaptured more thoroughly. – "A sssecond classs GAG. That'sssome overprissssed sstuff we found."

Ignoring the alien behind him tying his arms, Raph's gaze was downcast, looking away shamefully as he still did his best to keep himself from quivering so awfully much. He was breathing deeply, trying to clear his dizzy head for the past several minutes. His balance had mostly come back and he could again stand on his own, but his insides were still experiencing one giant cramp twisting all his organs and muscles into a knot.

The chain of the pole was tugged higher and pulled the rope around Raph's wrists with it, tightening it. Raph swallowed back whatever whiny sound his throat wanted to produce, shifted uncomfortably, and continued to scowl at the cracked ground. – But the chain only ascended again, making Raph hit the pole with the bottom of his carapace. His shoulders were forced to twist back up and elbows forced out.

"Agh!"

And when he thought the awfully awkward position was final the chain only continued to slowly slide up – _clunk …clunk …clunk …clunk_ – pulling his arms behind his shell higher and higher.

"What are you doing?" Raph piped up, finally looking over his twisted arm at his captor who stood a few feet away and was pulling the other end of the metal chain, which went through a slot at the top of the pole. Before he received the answer, the increasing pain ripped through his shoulder joints.

"Aaaaaangh! Stop!" he hissed, gnashing his teeth in agony. He had to lean over to loosen the pressure on his crooked shoulders, but his wrists were already too high for him to be able to do so efficiently. The heels of his feet desperately scraped at the pole behind him, looking for a support to lift his body higher. He suddenly had a difficult time balancing himself again.

Another pained cry escaped him.

"Orto, sstop!" Glendance returned from the tent. "What the hhell is wrong with you? Don't you ssee his jointsss don't bend that way!" he yelled at his coworker.

"Yeah, I've notissed earlier that it hhurtsss him. – That'ss what he getsss for beating up Qx." Orto reasoned, but stopped pulling on the chain and left Raph in the bent-over, painful position.

"Qx isss fine. Faketa sssaid he took her back to her camp after sshhe came to."

Orto said nothing, appearing unimpressed and only continued to glower.

"I found a boxss of anti-zayeban in the back of the tent." Glendence stepped closer, ignoring his coworker's capricious mood swings and lifted his refilled dart gun. He offered it to her. "Sstuff looked old but it sshhould sstill work. I don't think these thingsss expire, right?"

Orto was surprised for a moment that Glendence offered her his gun but she didn't waste the opportunity and quickly took it. – She aimed the barrel towards Raphael's bent form.

The boy jerked at the sight of the weapon directed at him. He suddenly heard a bang and he quaked. He felt something sharp strike his thigh. – Another dart stuck out of it. A cold feeling spread from it and through his body as the antidote started to quickly take effect.

"You know, Enssse," Orto began after skimming the gun with her bright eyes and returning it to her coworker. She turned back to stare at the chained up turtle. "I've never sseen a GAG in real life before. Did you ssee hisss esstimated prissse in the documentss? Thisss fella'sss worth fifteen of our bessst healerss. Kinda makesss you wonder what'sssso damn sspecial about one."

"Nothing. It'sss jusst a made up crazze for the bored rich folk. Asside from being cute and ssmall, they're pretty much usselesss."

"Screw you!" Raphael snarled hatefully. He had enough of everyone talking about him like he was another stupid product in a store. The longer he had been captured the more he felt like imported livestock and less like an actual person.

"You're pretty loud for ssomeone your ssizze," Orto warned grimly. "Esspecially for a sslave in your position." She thoroughly side-eyed Raph's awkwardly bound form for emphasis.

Raph's cheeks burned while he gave his all to look hateful over everything else he felt. "I'm not a stupid slave! Let me go home already!" He hated how unthreatening and desperate he sounded.

"Aww! You heard that, Glendence? The sslave misssesss hiss momma," Orto giggled, her grim face turning disturbingly excited again. "What are you gonna do, kid?" She slowly started to inch closer to the small alien. "Cry?"

"No!" Raph shouted. His words were laced with too little grit and too much fear to stop Orto from eagerly gazing down at him.

The tall alien stopped inches from him. "Then what are you gonna do?"

Raph's trembles involuntarily turned into ceaseless frightened shakes once Orto loomed over his hunched over body. There was an insane glint in her yellow eyes and the boy couldn't make out what it meant. His lungs struggled to breathe as his chest quivered. He continued to hatefully scowl and growl at her in a desperate attempt to get her to move away.

Orto quickly snapped her clawed leg as if she was about to kick him. _"Huh?"_

She grinned when Raph produced a startled yelp and jerked away from her, straining against the chain.

Raph's round eyes quickly narrowed again once he saw the satisfied expression on the alien's face. His cheeks darkened.

Glendence watched everything from a few feet away. "Orto, jusst sstop." He knew his coworker had a tendency to get out of hand and he didn't feel like dealing with her today. They didn't have time to continue fooling around with someone else's slave.

Orto ignored him and continued to stare down at the bound boy. "Are you gonna beg?" she asked in sick amusement.

Raphael's eyes widened again at the demeaning suggestion. His breath was stuck in his throat for a second before he proceeded to scowl. His throat worked to produce another "no" but just as it had, his face was grabbed in a tight hold.

The alien pinched Raph's cheeks between her clawed fingers and forced his head to bend up straight towards her.

"Ungh!" Raph's arched neck ached as he strained against the chain still pulling his arms back up.

"Oh, you'll beg plenty."

Raph's heel dug against the pole again, desperately searching for some support to lift himself higher and decrease the pain in his shoulders.

"Let me go!"

Orto crouched down to the turtle's eye level while still squeezing his face painfully. "What'sss the magic word?" she tilted her head expectantly.

Raph suppressed a whimper as he struggled in the painful hold, trying to pull his head away. He tried to keep scowling but his eyes began to water from the claws pinching his cheeks. Still he didn't say anything, determined to not give the alien what she wanted.

"No? Hmm?" Orto's terrifying smile unscrewed a bit. "You'll do it eventually," she threatened.

The boy stared at her. His jerking movements stopped for a moment as he attentively waited for whatever the scary smiling creature would try to do next.

The alien only released the hold on his face and stood up. "You jusst keep sstaring at everyone with thosse big, innosssent, green eyesss. – Green and _green_ ," she poked Raph's snout. – "GAG."

 _Green and green?_

 _…That's what it means? That's what this is all about? – Because I'm green?_ A completely different wave of horror rushed over Raphael as he started to understand what he was being sold for…

He hadn't been kidnapped from some unfortunate grudge to become another labor slave for someone, like he had been assuming. He was there because of his physical appearance! They purposefully kidnapped him because he was green-eyed and green-skinned and that happened to be some kind of ideal for these insane people. – What that meant for him, Raph didn't even want to think about.

"You look ssurprissed," Orto declared after seeing his bewildered face. "Doessn't look like you know what you're doing here at all. – If that'sss the cassse, let me make thingsss easier for you and teach you how to beg and plead like a good little sslave. It'll sspare you a lot of beatingsss in the beginning."

"Orto, enough. Let'ss go," Glendence ordered.

Orto plucked the empty dart from Raph's thigh and threw it back over to her coworker. "Just a blink. Thisss kid needsss an introductory lesson into sslavery," she explained and took hold of the chain just above the turtle's wrists.

Raph panicked. "No, don't!"

His wrists were immediately lifted higher, and the chain hadn't even moved an inch before he screamed in agony. "Stop!"

"Beg."

"No!"

 _"Beg!"_

Raph screamed as his arms bent back more until his toes barely touched the ground. His shoulders were on the brink of dislocating and white spots danced before his shut eyes. He thought about complying with the alien's order just to decrease the pain but decided against it. He would not allow anyone to break him that easily.

"Orto! Ssstop right now!" Glendance warned again but showed no interest in interfering physically. "You'll break hiss armss! You ssaw how much he'ss worthh. Good luck paying for his injuriesss."

That seemed to make the merciless alien stop and reconsider her actions. She let go of the chain and Raphael let out a shuddering relieved exhale when his feet landed on the ground.

"Maybe he needsss a demonsstration."

"Orto, let him be. He'sss jusst a kid."

The insane smile returned to Orto's face. She didn't even hear her coworker anymore. "Allow me to demonstrate what begging looksss like for ssome perssonal sslavessss."

Raphael cowered in her presence. He wanted to get as far away as he could, but only managed half a step away before the chain stretched his arm too much. He whimpered and his knees trembled when the alien grabbed his face again and pulled it closer to her sharp mouth.

"Pay attention and take notess for future referenssse.

"Now, what type of persssonal sslave sshhould I imperssonate, hmm?" Orto tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Oh, I know! How about a ssexssssslave?"

Raph's eyes widened into round saucers while his body stiffened. "What?!" he gasped almost inaudibly.

Orto only grinned wider from the reaction she received then started her disturbing performance, – " _Oh oh! Yess, ah! It feels good! Oh, pleasse don't stop! Ah! Pleasse… Pleassse! I need thiss, I love you! I'll do anything!"_ she gasped and moaned in front of the boy and pretend-trembled which matched Raph's horrified shudders.

While feeling like his heart stopped, Raph's loud brain tried to think of something else the insane alien could be referring to with that _because she couldn't be referring to what he thought she was referring to!-_ Raph's mind blanked out, his gut knotted up, his chest convulsed, and his throat closed up. His insides foamed up with a completely new type of terror.

Orto stood up again when her coworker roughly pulled her away. She was satisfied with the message she got across to the troublemaking runaway who now shook in front of them.

"That'sss right. It's a gamble but that jusst might be what your buyer will want you for. Fun right?"

Raph's face grew blotchy.

"Oh look, you _are_ going to cry!" the alien jested.

"No!" Raph protested. His face was crumpled in horror and disgust as he fought back sudden tears.

"You'll eventually do that, too," Orto said with no pity present in her voice. Her smile left again and she turned serious. "Your current owner'ss going to arrive in about ten valyutesss and I won't lower thiss chain until he payss me and Glendenssse for our trouble. And know that the pssoh-ghlavts people don't like to give their money away easily, sso I'd get comfortable if I were you."

Raphael wasn't looking at her anymore, his eyes stared at the ground ahead as his slumped and folded-over body continued to tremble. He deeply wanted his brothers to find him already. He had enough. He wanted to go home and pretend none of this ever happened.

Glendence watched him with a tinge of concern as he ushered his coworker to leave already. Orto finally moved, ripped her scowling eyes from the unresponsive turtle, and walked away. Glendence hit her shoulder disapprovingly on their way back to the tent.

When Raph was left completely alone in the yard, his posture bent, his legs quaking, his arms trembling behind him, and his tired head hanging low, feeling terrified and helpless – a single loud, gagged sob escaped him.

He really really _really_ wanted his big brother now.

 **xXVXx**

*Hands out big fluffy purple aliens to my readers* Hey, guys, don't kill me... D:

The first thing I'm going to say is: Nothing ever happens to anyone and it never comes close to anything ever happening!

I need Raph to feel this fear in order for the plot to move forward in a later chapter. He'll kinda have a decision to make that will move the story in one of two directions. Chapters 12 and 15 will mention the idea of prostotution a few times, too, but it'll be mostly just through Raph's fearful thoughts. So don't worry about this fic making a dark turn into those waters - it doesn't. Orto said it's _one_ of the things he might be used for. But it's never the thing he does. Orto's just a terrible person scaring a kid... - This idea is abandoned in chapter 15.

Also sorry, but Raph is way too small and young (and adorable) for the aliens to see him as beneficial for labor or fighting. He's in a different section of Singathef.

I really do hope you'll stick around to read more. This story still has a lot more to offer and it won't always be this scary. I promise!

Also please let me know your thoughts!


	12. Welcome to Singathef

Hey guys! There's a bunch of things I didn't say in the last chapter because I was too busy panicking whether you're all going to freak out too much. But I really wanted to say that this story is now officially my longest story on this account! _Yay, me!_ I also want to congratulate _Creepypastera_ on DeviantArt for partly figuring out - almost immediately actually - what GAG stands for. Even though I'm sure she wrote the assumptions as jokes! _"Good-looking and Green"_ XD

I found the idea for GAG fun and simple. The most stereotypical characters anyone thinks of when they think about aliens are those completely green bald guys usually making a peace sign or something. But I thought it would be interesting to make green aliens in this world as one of the most rare aliens to find. I don't know... I found it fun. :P Also I bet you weren't thinking something that was mentioned so much and seemed to be an important part of the plot so far would end up meaning something as simple as "green and green". I hope that came as a surprise.

Today's chapter has a scene in it that was made into the first official story illustration I had ever posted on DA, way before this fic was online, sometime last summer I think. I thought this might be interesting to some of my readers who follow my DA account. :) I hope you'll figure out what scene and drawing I mean.

Find story warnings and goodies (drawings) here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twelve**

 **Welcome to Singathef**

"So you got anything, Professor?"

The android forced his digital eyes from the computer screen and across the control room towards the human girl sitting on the stairs, who had been trying to make use of the little training she had already had of her psychic powers.

"I'm coming up empty over here," April muttered.

Fugitoid had told her that the distance was still too great for her to make a mental connection with Raphael. Even if she had been professionally trained, it would be difficult. Still April had spent her time giving a shot at it rather than doing nothing.

She looked over her shoulder at the moon revealing itself behind planet Niktikleptis. Her eyes welled up with worry at the sight of it. _This is where we have to find Raph,_ she reminded herself.

She still couldn't grasp the size of the moon. Its view was stretching over the whole window, not giving space to even see its spherical shape as it appeared just like an endless block of rock. It was almost the same size as the planet according to the professor…

 _How are we going to find anything at all in a place as large as that?_

The android pulled her out of her depressing thoughts as he began to speak.

"Well, I already know the general idea of how the trafficking on the moon works, and I will share it with you all soon, before we start landing," he said.

He had already explained to the team that Singathef was a large, trafficking black market. But because the android hadn't known much else about it, he had left them on their own and returned to study the moon more thoroughly while the ship rounded Niktikleptis.

…"Sadly it's not information that will actually help us maneuver through Singathef. I _have_ found some more information on the place off the formal sites but they're vague descriptions. Elas 13 is not a well-documented solar system because of its abandonment, and the information I gathered is mostly from unreliable, unsourced forums and blogs. – The idea I got from them is that everything on the moon today is controlled by a masterfully designed system and there is just no way of avoiding it. I fear we'll have to visit the planet like actual purchasers and not like the 'rescuers' we would all prefer to be."

April frowned more the longer the robot spoke. "Purchasers? We're going to buy Raph off the black market? – He will so not like that."

"I'm certain he will like it a lot more than what he is going through at the moment. And in terrible truth, we can only be glad for the organized system. It'll help us greatly in actually locating Raphael."

xXx

"Get offa me!" Raphael growled as a giant hand on top of his head and carapace pressed him harder onto the table. His cheek was squeezed against the metal surface and his chest crushed under the pressure. His arms were still tied up behind him but his legs were free and they bucked and kicked beneath him. He hit the legs of the alien overpowering him but the giant creature didn't even move an inch from the strikes.

Raph was terrified. Bulldog had sold him off to an ugly human sized _grub!_ And after the gut-turning _"introduction"_ his workers had then taken him away somewhere downstairs underground and brought him to a tiled room that just _smelled_ of horror.

He felt the alien shift behind him before leaning onto him, pinning his forearms onto his shell.

Raphael paled up when the prospect that the crazy alien back at the shipment camp had terrorized him with resurfaced. The way the alien was leaning against him, pushing his legs against the table rim with his hips started feeling a hundred times more wrong and terrifying.

 _"No!_ Get off!" Raph began to shout and push back unsuccessfully. "Let me go!" – _This isn't happening. It isn't happening! It's not happening!_

"Calm down 'n' stop moving," the alien grumbled and pressed harder down onto him.

"No! Stop!" Panic was foaming up inside Raphael as the sickening realization continued to repeatedly hit him like a moving car. He directed all of his strength into fighting back. Even if he was wrong, he still wanted to get away.

"You need help?" he suddenly heard a different, more feminine voice in the room, somewhere on the other side from where he was facing. Soon after, another large hand pushed down hard on him, making his bucking entirely useless.

"Thanks."

Raph couldn't move even an inch of his shell anymore. His heart hammered in his chest and his breaths came out sharp and panicked. His body was completely stiff and started to tremble as he was forced to keep still and wait.

He shivered when he felt the first alien's hands move around his neck. But then the thick fingers slid over his collar and rotated it. Half of Raph's built up terror vanished when he felt the collar unclasp. _He's just removing the collar,_ Raph thought in relief, despite his breathing becoming difficult again.

He felt the alien reach back somewhere, "Can you hand me the- Yeah, thanks," and bring a softer collar to replace it, and prove his new assumption thankfully correct.

Raphael suddenly hated himself for even thinking of molestation in the first place and scaring himself like that. He had been on the verge of pleading and crying a few seconds ago. But the truth that that was still an actual threat to him was still eating at him.

"On Freeday we could go visit Yeezin," the large female alien spoke up. "Heard he and his owner are looking to sell him off into the training district. Apparently a guy there is looking for someone big and authoritative or something."-

"Well he has the 'big' part covered at least," the male alien leaning onto Raph, chuckled as he started strapping the new collar around the boy's neck.

"You're so rude! I want to see him before he gets sold off to a new owner again. Who knows what that guy will be like about visits…?"

Raphael wasn't trying to fight them off anymore and the extra hand over his head and shoulder eventually disappeared. He decided to wait for the collar to be in place and working so he could breathe normally before trying to get free. At least he told himself that was the only reason. He felt completely worn out and sleep deprived.

…"I was actually thinking we could all get together and go to Niktikleptis on Freeday. It's been forever since we've been on the planet."

Raphael's heart sank. _Niktikleptis._ That was the name of the planet they had landed on after their mission. He could remember Fugitoid saying that exact same long name. – He had been on a different planet all this time!? A kind of dread rolled over him, all murky and sticky like tar. He was completely shaken by the information.

Were his brothers even going to find the right planet to look for him? Did they even know he had been taken to a different planet?! Was he actually stuck like that for good? Raph didn't accept that. Wouldn't for a long time. – They had Donnie and Fugitoid, and April had those mind powers, and Leo was great at tracking. They were going to find him. They were!

No matter how much he tried to convince himself, Raphael was slowly losing hope.

…"Who's going to pay for the ride to 'Kleptis? It's not exactly floatie price."

"You think Tart wouldn't pay for us? I mean we haven't asked for anything in quite a while." The male alien finally positioned the small collar with his large clumsy fingers.

"Maybe you should tighten it," the other one suggested when he was just about to fasten the buckle, "Previous handler told me he's a brat."

The man listened and pulled the pin through two more holes than he had originally intended, tightening the collar the most he could without actually strangling the kid. –"So he won't forget why he's here. I don't want to see him get cozy and start causing trouble anyway." He patted Raph's shell.

Raph let out a disapproving grunt and grit his teeth. The collar was awfully tight and he couldn't swallow properly with it. At least he could breathe better …or have more to breathe. When the alien's weight finally moved from him, he inhaled deeply, trying to collect his jumbled thoughts.

"Here, Seeris, take this collar back up to the psoh-ghlavts." The alien stepped away from the boy and handed the folded up metal collar to the other one of the same species.

Raph pulled himself up to stand, only to be slammed back onto the table.

"Stay down. I didn't say you could move," the alien warned with a completely different tone of voice than he used with his coworker.

Raph scowled at him over his shoulder. His brain was already coming up with what to say back but he bit his tongue when he realized the creature started untying the rope around his wrists. The other alien left and if he caught this one off guard, he might get a chance to get out of here.

He impatiently waited, doing his best to appear calm.

When his hands were free, Raph managed to wait for only half a second before focusing his strength into his tired muscles, twisting around and landing a punch directly over the unsuspecting alien's nose. The alien made a step back in shock and Raph used the given second and space to push off the table and kick him over the jaw, too.

The large man wailed in pain and stumbled a step back while Raphael was already running through the door.

The turtle found himself in a wide hallway with a number of identical doors on each side and suddenly couldn't clearly remember which one he had been brought through. He heard the alien cursing in the room behind him, already coming after him. He didn't have time to find the right one.

He quickly tried to recall… _It's… Err …uhh… Five, seven… uhh…Last on the left… It's the last one on the left!_ He ran and pushed through the large heavy metal door half certain, half hoping _– heck –begging_ , it was the right way.

His run quickly ended with a halt.

 _Wrong door._

The long, unlit room he found himself in was packed full of aliens, all with mainly red skin and fur; red eyes all staring at him in confusion. They sat on the floor, chained to the walls on both sides like animals.

Raphael's eyes widened. _"What the…"_

He made a step back, his body partly in shock.

The light from outside which cast his long grotesque shadow before him, shifted and disappeared as something giant blocked the way.

Raph quickly turned around, pulled from his frozen state.

The alien worker was already behind him, his large body taking up the whole wide doorway. He was seething with rage, eyes toxic and scowling as blue blood streamed from his broken nose.

"Dead end, slave."

xXx

Fugitoid had called everyone into the room and was saddened to see their shocked and partly horrified expressions that matched April's minutes ago. – The size of the moon scared them. It scared Dr. Honeycutt as well. He still didn't have a plan except for going with the flow and hoping they would be able to find Raphael.

"We will be entering the atmosphere in about a minute," he cut everyone's gazing short as he clicked away on the ship's controls. – "In the meantime I will explain some-

 _"Oh!?"_ His orange eyes blinked as the computer screen unexpectedly opened a new flashing window. "It seems I'm receiving an incoming signal from the moon."

Suddenly, catching everyone off guard, a hologram flashed through the middle of the control room revealing a smiling, bright alien similar to a pin-up girl. Red and yellow rays along with colorful ribbons decorated the background of her posture like a live version of old circus posters.

She spoke up excitedly and clearly over the sudden background music that filled up the walls of the room.

 _"Welcome to SINGATHEF: The World's Largest Shopping Center of Trafficked Persons!"_ the recording cheerfully welcomed.

"What the heck is this?" Leo looked at Fugitoid with a horrified expression that matched the rest of the team.

The android stared back at him, equally surprised.

 _"We consist of over fifty districts, each with more than three hundred specialized stores, marketplaces, training, and alteration factories,"_ explained the pin-up girl. _"On Singathef, priority lies in satisfying our customers and providing the best quality products. We also place great importance on keeping order and humane attitude towards live merchandise so you can receive it in the best state possible._

 _"Before entering the moon's atmosphere, please state the purpose of your visit and proceed with our given instructions to direct you to the closest fitting terminal._

 _"Choose one of the following: PRESS ONE for 'general personal shopping'; PRESS TWO for 'general corporate shopping'; PRESS THREE for 'collective export'; PRESS FOUR for 'import'; PRESS-"_

"Press 'one' already, Professor!" April shouted across the room over the loud music, not wishing to listen to the hologram any longer than she needed to. She still felt a bit sick to her stomach at the thought that they we're rescuing Raphael as customers of human trafficking.

"What?" Donatello stared at April in surprise.

"Yes, all right, all right!" The robot snapped to his senses and hurriedly clicked the number one key on the keyboard in front of him.

 _"You have chosen 'general personal shopping'. If 'general personal shopping' is what you have chosen, PRESS ONE. If not, PRESS TWO."_

Fugitoid pressed the key again.

 _"Your choice is 'general personal shopping'! – To enter Singathef please follow our directions to a landing terminal which you will receive shortly. Once landed you will be directed through the check-in. Be sure to check our closest Information desk, as well, so we can provide you with needed directions and inform you of our current offers and sales for your best shopping experience. – We wish you the best of luck in finding a good quality slave._

 _"Remember: SINGATHEF, where we do it morally and legally."_

The pin-up alien's hologram and the cheerful music suddenly disappeared and left the room feeling dark and empty. After a second, a projection of a single white line that squiggled as it spoke appeared on the ship's main screen. The voice was monotone and robotic, unlike the animated recording before.

 _"Please wait patiently while our servers connect you to a free landing spot on the closest fitting terminal."_

"This is sick!" Casey stated loudly when no one else found the voice to speak up. The cheeriness of the hologram had only served to infuriate him. He was not looking forward to stepping foot on the twisted "shopping center" as they called it.

"So we're entering the planet as buyers now?" Donnie asked. "I guess it's safer than trying to sneak onto a supervised planet _…err_ moon."

"Actually we're really buying Raph off the market," April frowned. "The trading operation is completely regulated. It's too risky to try a rescue mission."

"We're what?" Leo blurted out after finally getting over the shock from the hologram that had invaded the ship's main room.

"That's messed up!" Casey argued.

"It sucks but it's the only choice we have." April tried to sound calm despite her own indignation.

"We're supporting the whole messed up operation by doing that!" Leo didn't like the idea one bit. If they bought Raph, they'd just be putting money in the hands of those who would undoubtedly go out kidnapping again.

 _-"Sending coordinates… Coordinates sent. – Please proceed to your destination at reasonable and controlled speeds."_

"I've received the location," Fugitoid declared to no one in particular as he locked the ship with the sent coordinates and switched to autopilot.

Mikey finally moved closer. He had been standing by the side through the whole exchange. "So we buy Raph …doesn't that technically still make him a slave?"

"No. Well, yes." Donnie sighed. "That doesn't even matter at the moment, Mikey. We'll just free him or whatever. We have to find Raph first before actually buying him."

The android walked over to where the Earthlings stood. He didn't want to wait any longer, not wanting them to start arguing over something that they had no power over. He still had something very important to discuss with the team that they would like even less.

"I still don't like this," Leo and Casey grumbled in union.

"I wish for your full attention on what I'm about to say. This is of great importance," Dr. Honeycutt spoke up. His robotic voice was stern. He was just as disturbed and angered by the whole concept of a trafficking market as the rest, but he knew there currently was no time or place to let emotion take over.

He waited for all the kids to turn towards him before continuing.

"As you found out earlier, I had been aware of the existence of this moon, as most travelers with a bit more knowledge of the known universe are. The awful alien trafficking business we're all going to face soon, has been continuing on Singathef for almost three centuries now, as long as the negligence of the Elas 13 Solar System, and it has still not been dealt with because, in truth, the traffic brings quite an income to a number of larger corporations in the neighboring solar systems that are exploiting it to their advantage, which in return brings income to the Federal Republic of Brandua Galaxy. Other governments had tried to put a stop to the alien trafficking, but because Elas 13 still officially belongs under the Brandua Republic, they cannot interfere without starting a conflict that might lead to war. There has been a lot of illegal, political, dare I say, _crap_ happening around this solar system fueled mostly by greed of the rich and powerful.-"

"Professor," Donnie broke Fugitoid's explanation, despite how fascinating it sounded to him. "No disrespect. This news is more than shocking to all of us but I am assuming there is a point to this speech?"

"I do tend to stray too far off topic. Thank you, Donatello."

Fugitoid collected his thoughts once more so he could quickly get to what he wanted to tell the young travelers. "What I wish to tell you is that selling people on Singathef is as normal as selling puppies on Earth. No one thinks wrong of it. Majority of the population lives from this business and has been doing so their entire lives just as their ancestors have. It's part of their culture."-

"What are you trying to tell us with this?" Leo questioned, suddenly worried where the conversation was headed.

"I know I ask a lot from you considering how ethical you all are, but we _cannot_ help other victims of trafficking we come across. We are here to retrieve Raphael – no one and nothing else. I don't want any of you interfering with whatever else we might stumble upon. It is very important you obey this order."

"You're saying we're not allowed to help other innocents?" Leo asked despite understanding Fugitoid clearly. He was taken aback by his request, not liking the sound of it one bit.

"What I am saying is that this isn't three bad guys and a few kidnapped people– this is a Neptune-sized moon and thirty billion trafficked people. Now, I do not expect you to grasp the size and number of that but trust me when I say we cannot make a change."

"Maybe not for all of them, but for a few"-

" _No._ We don't have time for that with your own planet still at stake. If you will try to help unfortunate aliens, you won't be rescuing them, you will be committing a crime against their owners. You will undoubtedly get arrested and we won't be able to leave the moon for at least another couple of days if not months. Depends how many procedures you'll have to go through."

When Leo didn't further defend his stance, Casey stepped in. "But we can't just stay back and watch people get trafficked or hurt!"

"We will have to if we want Raphael back."

The teens all looked at one another, each feeling worse than the other. Were they seriously going to ignore everyone else needing help while looking for their brother and friend?

xXx

Raphael let out a weak grunt of pain as the alien pulled him into an unlit room by one enormous hand holding him around his throat. He was half dragged over the floor towards an empty shackle on the wall.

Easily and without any care, the alien pressed the back of his head and neck against the wall's hard surface and with a single click fastened his collar into a simple locking carabiner.

He continued to hold him by the throat as he scowled. His face was scrunched together, nose broken and crooked, as malevolence radiated off of him in waves.

"I hope you learned your lesson, slave?" He squeezed the grip until the boy produced a muffled whine under the tape covering his mouth.

Raph didn't even dare to reach for the throttling hand to pry it away. He weakly nodded as he stared at the creature completely terrorized. His heart continuously raced and his lungs struggled to breathe evenly. His side still felt like it had been torn open by a million needles diving into it. The alien had been completely ruthless with him for breaking his nose.

"From now on if you as much as move a finger without me telling you to do so, I'll make sure you'll belong in the purple section instead of the green one for the next two weeks," the man warned before finally releasing the hold.

Raphael slumped against the wall and found himself completely restricted into a sitting position with only inches of freedom between the collar and wall. He pulled his sluggish legs closer, wanting something between himself and the mad alien.

"What did I just say?!" the man growled and stopped his fist inches from striking the kid.

Raph quickly straightened his legs back in place while he watched the fist waver in front of his snout. He hated himself for giving in but he really couldn't take anymore. He had had enough. He sat completely still and silent.

The alien leaned back on his heels after a moment when Raphael didn't give any more signs of wanting to move. He reached into a pocket of his pants and pulled out a handful of blue straps marked with different labels. He started to grumble to himself, something about _one hundred valyutes_ , while searching through the collection.

Raph watched him through his unfocused vision. Fear and pain were completely numbing him, pinning him to the wall even more firmly than the carabiner. He started to shake and, _oh God,_ he hoped the man wouldn't notice and accuse him of moving.

The alien took hold of one strap from the bundle and shoved the rest back. Peeling away a protection strip, same as on a band aid, he carelessly and roughly slapped the other part onto Raph's forehead.

The boy's head hit the wall behind him in the process. _"Mhmph!"_

Then he stood back up and strode back through the long dark room, rubbing his aching jaw and muttering some more as he closed and locked the door behind himself, blocking out the remaining light from the hallway.

In a span of a few seconds, before Raph could even try testing the new binds, he started feeling completely woozy. More than he already felt. His brain started to throb from exhaustion and sleeplessness both mercilessly catching up to him. His suddenly heavy head lulled and his vision started to darken. He wanted to reach up and peel away the strip that was undoubtedly pulling him into sleep but his arms fell back down half way up.

He choked up, frustrated, not wanting to sleep and wake up somewhere completely different and ten times worse.

His eyes finally caught sight of green blurs through the dark room. He blinked a couple of times trying to focus his vision but it only blurred out more. His mind was turning too numb for him to think anything about it as it was pulled into darkness.

Everything blackened into nothing at once and his sore body slumped unconscious against the cold wall.

 **xXVXx**

I have a question for you about making drawings for this fic... I _love_ drawing the aliens from this story, and I'm wondering if you'd be okay with me posting those drawings? This may sound like a strange question to some but I'm a very firm believer that everyone should experience books and imagine the sceneries and characters in them in their own way, so I don't want to ruin anyone's head canons for how some of my aliens look by posting my own versions of them. Especially because I _love_ hearing from others how they imagine my characters. Me and _CelandineGranger,_ my beta, had had these kind of conversations and we've realised we imagine even the very clearly described characters very differently. I'm still waiting for her to draw some of them! (I know you're eventually gonna read this, Cel! I'm still waiting :D )


	13. Thank God the Immoral Are Organized

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Welcome to one of my all time favorite chapters in this story. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! :D And thank you to everyone who left a review so far! You guys rock!

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Thirteen**

 **Thank God the Immoral Are Organized**

"What do you mean I'm staying here? But I'm all geared up!"

Michelangelo desperately looked at the rest of the team in the hope of someone taking his side. _"Guys?"_

Everyone preferred to look at the floor, feeling bad for agreeing with Leonardo, but knowing it was better this way. Even they didn't want to go, but they had decided that Mikey really didn't need to see any of this moon.

"We need someone to look after the ship," April tried to make a valid reason for him staying behind that might partly calm him down.

"You just don't want me to come along! It's my fault Raph was kidnapped!" Mikey whined.

"The only ones at fault are the kidnappers, Michelangelo," said Leo sternly. "And you're not going. It's already decided."

"But"-

"You can contact us with a communicator if anything bad happens. Professor says they work here." Leo pulled the device from Mikey's chest plate and pressed it into his palm, squeezing his hand reassuringly. "We're going to get our brother back. He's going to be okay."

Michelangelo wanted to argue further, but he knew time was of the essence. He nodded, despite feeling hurt. They were just buying Raph off the market, so it didn't matter how many came along for the rescue. And, of course, Mikey got cut short. – _Innocent baby brother must be protected at all costs and all that baloney._ He pouted.

The team turned towards the exit and put their helmets on, ready to leave the ship, when the android stepped toward the sulking, left-behind member.

"I switched the ship to voice-controlled English in case you want to use the simulation room. Please understand Leonardo is doing this for your own good."

Mikey huffed and crossed his arms in defiance. _All I hear is 'blah blah blah, don't make us feel bad about our selfish decisions that we don't even discuss with you',_ he thought angrily.

The robot didn't press him further and left the boy standing there, fuming, while the rest exited.

…

The group of five walked down the ship onto the cracked, dry ground of a seemingly endless landing port. Ships of all shapes and sizes were parked, each on its own space, in long rows heading in a straight line.

April turned towards the professor. "Which way?"

As if on cue, an oversized, levitating, roofless wagon zipped down their path and slowed to a halt beside them. There was a wrinkly, slim alien, almost twice their size, sitting up front behind a steering wheel, and two more aliens on the seats in the back.

"Welcome to Singathef," the old man greeted and popped open the door behind him. "Hop on in. I drive to the terminal."

The group looked at each other before tentatively stepping into the wagon. The moment they all sat down the vehicle sped up again.

"So what's the plan again?" Casey asked everyone after the wagon stopped accelerating and they all settled on their seats. "Go with the flow?"

Fugitoid hummed through his speakers. "First we will have to go through check-in. Then I think it would be best to go to the information point like the recording said."

"You're actually proposing we ask these creeps for help?" the teenager wrinkled his nose. He still didn't like the thought of being surrounded by a bunch of lowly kidnappers. Asking them for help sounded like just the opposite of a good idea.

"This moon is nearly forty times the size of Earth and a fifth of it is populated. How do you propose we find Raphael without relying on some help? As you already know, this place is considered a shopping center by the aliens who do business here. And just like in actual stores, these workers know exactly where to look to find something. – We're going to the information point for directions," the professor insisted.

It took two more quick stops to pick up other visitors and less than five minutes for the wagon to stop in front of a tall, long building at the end of the parking lot.

"The check-in's through any of those doors," the old driver explained as everyone got off the wagon.

Fugitoid stepped to the side beside him. "Do we need to pay for the ride?"

"Nope. That's free. Just remember to be back at your ship in two hundred valyutes or you're going to have to pay for parking. I make a route every ten valyutes, and your parking space is _…F289_ if I remember correctly."

"It is."

"My memory never betrays me, heehee. – See you kids in a while!"

The robot politely waved goodbye before joining the group and walking them through the closest gate into the terminal. Everything was oversized, from the doors to the ceiling, so every type of alien could fit – and it made the team feel uncomfortably small.

"Everyone stay together," the professor ordered as he led them, followed by Leonardo.

They waited through a short queue before entering a smaller room which only held a desk with a strange computer and a carousel like the ones for luggage in airports.

"You're all together?" a short puffy alien behind a computer asked Donatello, who stood closest to him.

"Yes."

"I'm going to need IDs."

"We don't have IDs."

 _"I_ have an ID," Fugitoid stepped forward.

The alien looked him over with a single eye. "You're a robot?"

"A cyborg to be exact."

"Pardon. As long as it's a valid ID. As for the rest of you, I'll need at least names."

The alien quickly hit in the given information and the machine spit out five plastic cards. "Here are your passes, but before I give them to you please drop your weapons into this tray." He pulled a plastic tray from below the desk and placed it on the carousel. "The sensors detected two plasma swords, a smart staff, three laser blasters, twenty photon pucks, and three different wooden sticks. You didn't think you could bring any of that with you, did you?" he stared at the group with a raised eyebrow.

The teenagers all exchanged glances before hesitantly pulling out their weapons and placing them on the tray.

"Mr. Zayton Honeycutt," the alien addressed Fugitoid and pulled a small package from a drawer, "you need to attach this sticker chip to yourself. It doesn't matter where. It won't harm you, it just locks built-in weapons. You'll have the sticker removed at check-out. As for the weapons, you'll find those at check-out, too. Just don't lose your passes." He handed the cards to the group and sent them on their way, already calling in the next people.

The moment the group stepped outside, the Earthlings were overwhelmed by the size of the station they walked into. They were suddenly surrounded by crowds of people all going different ways. The countless alien species and the whole alien look of the place scared them. They felt lost. Leo and Donnie were especially nervous, not being used to crowds of any kind.

"We really shouldn't have left our weapons back there," Casey muttered as they all stepped closer together.

"If it eases you, these people are without weapons as well," the robot bleeped before turning around and scavenging for an information point. "There it is!" He pointed across the hall towards a large red sign above a long counter with about twenty workers behind it.

There were lines in front of all of them. Of course there was going to be a line! When was anything ever quick and easy for them?

Leonardo tapped his foot, Casey hummed, April was again trying to make some sort of connection with Raphael, and Donnie was looking around, observing what kinds of aliens were coming through the gates. Some wore helmets like them, some breathing collars, and some nothing at all – not even clothes. Not that Donatello could reproach them.

"This place doesn't look like anything backwards or illegal. I feel like we're in an airport," he muttered.

"How do you know what an airport looks like?" Casey turned towards him.

"I've seen movies, Jones."

 _"Okay,"_ April interrupted, "we're up, guys." She pulled them both closer to the counter which Leo and Fugitoid were already leaning on.

"Good day!" greeted a broad-shouldered, blue wolf-man behind the counter in a tight white uniform. "What are we looking for?"

Leo stared at him, suddenly not knowing what to even say. "What do you mean? _A slave…"_

The wolf man's hands dropped into his lap from where they had been lingering above a keyboard. "Well, you could be either in search of a working slave to, for example, ease your housework, or perhaps you're looking for a fighting slave for betting on, or a completely personalized slave, like for company. There's a lot of different options. Why don't you just tell me what you're looking for and I'll guide you through," he explained politely.

"We don't know what we're looking for." How on Earth was Leo, or any of them, supposed to know what someone would want Raph for?

"You just want to look around?"

"No. We _…uhh_ – We're looking for our brother. He got kidnapped and taken here."

"Oh!" The alien smiled and showed his straight, mint green teeth. "You should have just said so in the beginning. The retrieving office is across from here," he pointed at a small counter on the opposite side from them.

Thankfully there weren't any lines there so, after saying thank you and goodbye, the team easily skipped over through the crowd.

"There should be a sign or something," April complained as they reached the counter. "We waited in line for nothing."

"There is," said Dr. Honeycutt, pointing at a small, bland plate on the wall beside them. "It says _'Office for Retrieving Kidnapped Family Members and Acquaintances'_ in Universal."

"So conspicuous," Donnie remarked sarcastically.

There was no one behind the counter, only a shorter desk stacked with piles of papers, so the android rang a small buzzer that sat on the counter beside them.

Only a few seconds passed before a curly orange alien ran up to the desk from a back door and hurriedly sat down. "Here I am. How can I help you?" she smiled brightly.

Leonardo stepped forward again. "We're looking for our brother."

"Trafficked sibling. – I'll need his name or number or, even better, his ID." She pulled a form from one of the piles of papers and pushed another pile away from the computer.

"He doesn't have an ID. His name's Raphael Hamato."

The woman scribbled something on the already filled form and put it into a folder she pulled from a drawer behind her. She grabbed one stack of papers and placed it further from her work space. "Okay, excuse me. What is his name again?" She turned towards her computer and scavenged out the mouse under more papers.

"Raphael Hamato. _– I don't think-"_

"Is that his first name and family name? And in what order?"

"Raphael is his name. Hamato – family name."

The woman grabbed a microphone from the end of her desk and placed it on the counter in front of Leo's snout. "Say just his name, clearly."

"Raphael?"

"No, say it normally, not like a question."

"Raphael."

"Great!" She smiled. – "Now family name."

"Hamato."

"Okay, if your sibling gave his name, the computer will find it," the alien explained as she clicked on the device and took the microphone back to her side with her free hand. – _"Aaand…_ No results. _What about similar?_ – Just one."

 _"Ramfaeel Amado,"_ came a robotic voice from the computers speakers.

"I'm assuming that's not him," the woman hummed.

"No."

"Raph would never give out his name like this," said Donnie. They knew their brother well enough to know that he'd do his best to make it as hard on his kidnappers as possible.

"Well he's just making it harder for us now," the woman huffed. "But don't worry, we'll find him. We just need to go over more steps. – What species is he?"

"Mutant turtle," said Leo with an awkward smile. _Good luck with that information, lady._

 _"'Mutation'_ will have to do. And what planet are you from?"

"Earth."

"Urf? Which galaxy is that?"

"The Milky Way?"

"Prim Galaxy Ozvezdyeh T-H-469," Fugitoid interrupted. "Planet Inhab 00483882."

"Prim? The primitive zone? We don't have that in our system." The alien sighed.

The team looked at her with worry as she pushed more papers aside as if trying to clear her head by doing so.

"We could take a blood sample from one of you but that would take longer than you would probably like because you'd have to travel to an import terminal and then wait through rendering. – _So_ – we'll just take baby steps and build up the information. Can you describe him to me?"

"Well," Leo tapped his fingers on the counter, "he looks pretty much like me, a little shorter, but bulkier"-

"That's not what I had in mind," the woman smiled politely although a bit annoyed. "I need his species' body structure first."

Leo turned to Fugitoid who blinked, just as confused.

"In case you forgot, I'm not from Earth."

The woman saw they wouldn't make any progress on their own. So she stood up and looked down at Leonardo and Donatello.

"Bipedal with one pair of arms. I'm assuming you have a spine?"

Leo nodded.

"Vertebrate. – Do you see where I'm aiming? What else?"

Leo turned to Donnie for help who looked like he was trying really hard to recall a word.

"Testudinata!" the taller turtle finally exclaimed.

The woman behind the counter bit her cheek. "That's sadly not translating and is, I'm assuming, a homeworld term?"

"Uhh…" Leo turned back towards her, completely unnerved. Panic was suddenly taking hold of him. "…He has three fingers on his hands and feet," he pulled his hands up. "And straight teeth, a pair of green eyes, and –and two nostrils, no earlobes-" He started hurriedly listing everything that came to mind before he suddenly got interrupted.

"Wait."

"What?" he barked a bit too loudly for his own liking. "Excuse me."

"He has green eyes?"

"Yes."

"Not blue like you … _or brown?"_ she looked at Donnie behind him.

"They're green."

"Just a vex," the alien smiled as she turned back to her computer and brought up a new window. "He looks a lot like you two?"

Leo and Donnie nodded.

"This is super!" she smiled after a minute. "We won't need to go through all of those tiring steps because we can already categorize him. You should have said something sooner. – Oh boy! Those kidnappers must have been really sneaky if they managed to take him from you," the lady giggled lightly as she pulled a new form from a drawer beneath her desk.

"What do you mean? Were we supposed to expect it?" Leo observed her with a frown, not understanding what she was laughing about.

The smile on the young alien's lips disappeared when she saw confusion on all of their faces. – "Your sibling's on the spectrum," she stated but phrased it more like a question to see if they followed.

"He's not," Leo eyed her, even more confused, not seeing any connection with what they were discussing.

"You said he looks like you two just with green eyes. _So_ he's certainly on the spectrum."

"He's not. – _Is he?"_ Leo turned to his brother who shrugged, just as confused.

"He is," the woman insisted politely. "He's on the visible spectrum."

"Visible spectrum? He's on _a rainbow?"_

"It's an expression. He's a small to medium sized, bipedal vertebrate and given your description of him, he's undoubtedly been categorized by his physical appearance into the color category. Which means he's in the high-class 'Personal Entertainment and Pleasure' sector."

 _"Which means…?"_ Leonardo couldn't properly follow – mostly because his brain wasn't accepting the news very lightly.

 _"Which means_ he's selling as a personal slave _or_ a pleasure slave _or –_ a term that's popular with customers – simply _a pet."_

Casey suddenly laughed in the back, but his friends knew it was the kind of laugh that just begged "let this person be joking".

Leonardo really didn't want to hear anymore. His little brother was brought here to be sold as a _pet_ for the amusement of some obscene, messed-up, rich alien, and, from the look on the woman's face, he was supposed to accept it as simple facts. His heart was tearing from worry and anger as he forced all the emotion down.

"Do you- Can you just help us find him, _please?"_ His voice sounded way too tight to come off as calm and the woman recognized the desperation.

She hurriedly pushed more papers that littered her desk, and the form she was filling in aside, and turned to her computer. She rotated the monitor to the side so the team could see the screen as well.

"We don't have a name or a number but we now know enough facts that might help us filter him through. Okay, vertebrate; bipedal; sap- _You know what, let's hurry it up, I'll just hit in_ 'G-A-G' _. Then,_ 'male'; name: 'unknown' - What's his age?"

"Twenty one percent. _…We think."_

"You _think_ or you know?"

"We don't know for sure."

"I'll select 'unknown'. – When, approximately, do you think he checked in?"

"Sometime around _…uh"_ Leo turned towards Fugitoid who was already converting hours.

"Between two hundred valyutes and now," the professor said after a moment.

The woman selected a box on screen, _"Should do,"_ then clicked what the group assumed was equal to an "enter" key.

The screen refreshed and filtered out a single folder. The alien smiled as she opened it up with the cursor then leaned forward in her chair extending her arm towards a small plate-shaped device on the counter beside Leonardo's resting arm. She turned it on and a small projection blinked above it.

"Is this him?"

Everyone stared at a still, miniature, three-dimensional projection of their missing brother and friend, and they couldn't help but let out a relieved exhale. They got him.

"It's him," Leo eventually croaked out.

He was so glad to finally see his brother, even if just a picture. It was enough to assure him they were on the right path.

Raphael's hands were bound behind his back as he stood hunched, appearing exhausted, confused, and, of course, scared. – Leo expected that much. Raph wasn't a guy to be scared easily, but abduction by aliens was its own level of terrifying.

He pulled his eyes from the projection and towards the woman behind the desk who was again browsing through her computer.

"So where is he?"

The woman leaned back in her chair unnerved. "Okay, here's the thing-

 _"What's the time again?"_ she muttered to herself and leaned forward for a moment, pulling up a little sidebar on the screen. _"2668. Still thirty-two valyutes left…_

"Okay," she turned fully towards the group, "here's the deal."

"What's wrong?" April asked, already forgetting about things going smoothly for a change.

"Your sibling checked in at exactly 2500 on terminal Postaya, room 21. – That's 170 valyutes ago."

"And?" Leo hated the day more with every second.

"Our servers refresh terrain data only every 150 valyutes so they don't crash. And the servers last refreshed at 2550, when your sibling strangely still hasn't been deposited."

After a moment of silence, Donatello stated miserably, "You don't know where he is."

"And I won't for the next thirty valyutes."

Everyone looked at Fugitoid.

"Approximately fifty-five minutes."

They frowned deeper.

Donnie stepped forward and pushed his brother to the side. "You said he's in a high-class category or whatever, right? If it's high-class, then it's rare, and if it's rare, then there shouldn't be that many locations he could be at."

"Good thinking!" the alien smiled again. "And I think GAGs in particular are extra rare." She pulled up a new window on her computer and typed in more data that none of them but Fugitoid could read.

"There's only thirteen color stores on Singathef but only two ever held GAGs," she muttered after a minute. She skimmed the text again before quickly turning back to the group.

"Your sibling's either at Tart's Spectrum Boutique or in the Fountain Factory. Even though there's more chance of him being at Tart's, I advise you to go to the Fountain Factory first since it's on the way. And you can still get him back unaltered if he's sold at Tart's, while after going through the Fountain Factory's Rekian youth capsules, he won't really be his whole self anymore."

"What are Rekian youth capsules?" Leo asked despite really not wishing to hear the answer.

"Youth capsules are just altering machines invented on Rekia. Here they're used for de-aging older slaves to match the ages that the buyers want them in. It's a quick and simple process. It's most favorable with people, usually parents, looking to buy a child or baby and wanting to know what they'll look like when they grow up."

"What?!"

"Well, since cloning and controlled breeding are both illegal due to Elas 13's overpopulation and child kidnapping under ten percent is illegal, too, we simply use the capsules. It's a very efficient solution to keep numbers to a minimum."

"Raph might get turned into a baby!?" Casey questioned to make sure he really followed.

"Yes. This is why I advise you to hurry. While youth capsules' effects can be reversed, they wipe memories of the erased years clean and only leave the subconscious. This is _not_ undoable and I'm certain you don't want that to happen to your sibling.

 _"So,"_ she pulled up and unfolded a map of the "shopping center" from a drawer and onto the counter for everyone to see, "you're _here,"_ she circled a spot on the map with a red marker, "the floatie number 11 takes you directly to the Fountain Factory, _here._ It's the tallest building there, you can't miss it. If your sibling's not there, take number 5 from the same floatie stop and ride to _here,_ the stop is called Platsa Ohroh Tsenen. Go through the marketplace, about a five-valyute walk, and you'll find Tart's Boutique _here._ It's a wide one story building in earth red color with a flat roof."

The team listened intently at the fast-explaining alien, taking in all the information.

"Also," she pulled up another colorful piece of paper, "since you're the slave's 'retrievers' you get the auction pass, meaning that if he's going to be in an auction, showing this will automatically give you a retriever's priority, preventing others from bidding. It also means the seller can't bargain for a higher price and must sell you the slave for the estimated price or less."

She took the paper back for a moment and pushed it through a press machine beside the computer, returning it with a 2D barcode printed in the top corner. "That's him," she tapped the code. "That's your sibling. Don't lose this paper.

"And even if he is already selected by a customer and taken outside the store, he's still under Singathef's regulations until check-out where he's finally paid for, which means you can demand him from whomever before that. If you have a retriever list, no one can deny him from you while he's on the market."

The woman looked slightly around to make sure no one was watching before sneaking another paper card into the now folded map.

"That is a Double-Trouble coupon. You're only allowed to get it if you're retrieving the same person for a second time. I'm giving it to you because GAGs are pretty rare slaves, in other words, pretty expensive. And your sibling's gathered data says he's a second class which is a high ranking. The salesman won't make a fuss about it because Singathef is the one paying the discounted money. It's also not uncommon for visually appealing aliens to get trafficked more than once, so there shouldn't be any suspicion about it."

"What's his estimated price?" Fugitoid asked while reading the retriever list.

"Let's see," the alien leaned back to the computer and scrolled through the opened folder. "400 uni-units."

"That's… That's almost 30,000 zemulacks!"

"200 uni-units with the coupon."

"Fugitoid, can you pay that much?" April asked with a new concern.

"I can and will, but it's still more than I expected."

"Where were you aiming at?" Casey asked.

"5,000 zemulacks…"

"That would be his price if he wasn't on the spectrum. It's an expensive trend. " The woman nervously tapped her fingers as she watched the concerned faces of the customers. "There's nothing I can do about these prices. I'm very sorry."

"Thank you very much," Fugitoid declared loudly and picked up the map and papers. "We appreciate your help greatly. – We should get on the move unless we want someone to beat us to Raphael."

"I'm really sorry your visit to Elas 13 turned out like this," the alien apologized again.

"Which way is the floatie stop?"

"Outside, at the end of the hallway. You can't miss it."

 **xXVXx**

Support this story by leaving a review while I'm being eaten by all my school assigments and stressing out slightly! They make my day!


	14. The GAG Room

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

I scramble out of a manhole cover and to your side like a ran-over feral person. "I know I said chapter 11 was the scariest chapter, but the thing is... I lied. Here's why this fic is under Horror. If it makes you feel better, this is also one of my favorite chapters..." I hand you a copy of the new chapter and then run away. From far away I shout "Also today you meet the star of this show!" before disappearing into the night.

 _Chapter 14 is rated M_

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Fourteen**

 **The GAG Room**

Raphael woke up with a loud, terrified scream – a sick, suffocating terror that his stressed body wanted to let out, but it became stuck on its way out of his taped-up mouth. He muffled in panic as the weight of everything sunk him back to the cold wall and floor. His chest heaved and his limbs shuddered as he forced himself to swallow the trapped terror back down.

His too-tight collar clanked behind him against metal, too close to his ears, reminding him where he was and why he was there. An almost silent whimper inadvertently formed in the back of his throat when his groggy mind tried to further grasp the _"why",_ and his earlier nightmare crashed back into his skipping heart.

He pulled his legs closer. _I'm okay,_ he desperately tried to convince himself and stop the sick feeling of dread and violation in his hollow stomach.

His breathing came in quick, shallow sniffs through his nose and only increased in speed the more aware he became of his surroundings.

His unfocused eyes caught sight of the many green eyes staring at him in the long, unlit room. Aliens, all green – _green skin, green fur, faces, limbs, almost everything_ – were chained up across from him, all a few feet apart, with identical collars clasped to carabiners on the wall. Just like the horrible "red room" that flashed through his memory.

Just like him.

Raph swallowed the sticky spit in his dry mouth as an uneasy feeling settled inside him under their gazes, the majority of which were broken and hollow, full of pity for themselves and him and it made him that much more scared of what would happen to him there. He looked away, ignoring the stares so they would eventually stop. He didn't want anyone's pity!

Suddenly he felt ashamed for waking up from his nightmare as loudly as he did and bringing all the attention on himself. Everyone else was completely still and quiet despite being in the same position as him.

He shifted his slumped body with the intention of finding a more comfortable position to sit. His body overflowed with pain when he moved, and his groggy brain just then started taking in all the information. His side and injured arm stung horribly; his lungs still ached from all the times he had been cut short on oxygen; his shoulders throbbed from the strain they had been forced to endure; his joints and neck were stiff from the forced sleep he had been pulled into – but nothing could preponderate the pain of terror and panic in his heart. It felt like someone was striking it constantly without mercy. – _Thump! –Thump! –Thump! –Thump! …_

Raph wanted to gasp for a lungful of cool air to mollify the turmoil in him but was stopped by the tape still covering his mouth. _"Mph…"_ His forehead wrinkled in annoyance.

He brought up his free hands with the intention of removing the annoying gag. His fingers scratched where he felt the edge of the tape should be but stumbled on nothing. _What?_ He stroked the spot again as confusion flowed into him. He couldn't find the edge of the tape to peal it off. His nails continued to scratch his cheeks. He could feel where he moved from scratching his skin to scratching the artificial material, but there was just no fringe in between them. It was like the material was melded into his skin.

 _Get! Off!_

Panic seized him again.

 _'You should stop that,'_ an unfamiliar voice suddenly echoed around Raphael and made him jerk in surprise.

He looked around, completely bewildered. The room was still quiet and he was half convinced he didn't pick up the sound with his ears. It echoed inside his throbbing head like thoughts transformed into words. He was seriously confused now.

His searching eyes locked with the alien chained up on his right.

 _Had… Had she just spoken to him through their minds?_

The green alien woman stared at him with a weird mix of concern and exasperation as if she had lost her will to comfort a long time ago…

 _'It's impossible to get it off without a remover. The last guy that didn't stop tore away half his face in hysteria. He bled out over there,'_ she pointed at one of the occupied spots across from them, and her memory of the horrible scene forced its way into Raph's brain. He lowered his hands from his face, suddenly not wanting them anywhere near it. He swallowed again.

 _'No one showed up for almost the whole day and he started to reek. And to make things worse, my old neighbor – where you're sitting now – had his mouth glued shut, too, and he almost choked on his own vomit because of the stench. I hated that day. Couldn't sleep for the next week.'_

Raph was clutching his head by the end, trying his best to banish the revolting thoughts, images, and smells the alien forced in. _Shut up!_ He didn't want to know that and definitely didn't want to experience it as his own vivid memory. Why on Earth did she have to show him that? Did she want him to freak out more?

 _'Sorry. I'm bored. It's easier to start a conversation with a newcomer whose mind doesn't look like the same boring thought on repeat.'_

Raph stared at her, his pained eyes clearly showing he didn't want to talk to her and the alien happened to get the memo – or maybe she read his mind again. She straightened her neck forward again, adapting the same unresponsive posture as everyone else.

Raph sat still for a while as well – until he calmed himself down enough to think half-clearly and breathe somewhat normally. He reached back and touched the short metal chain pinning him to the wall and soon decided he had no chance of breaking out of it. Instead he moved his hands to the collar to try and figure out the buckle on it. Escape was the only thought occupying his frantic mind.

 _'Did you forget you can't breathe without that thing?'_

His head turned towards the alien who was again watching him, this time with only exasperation present on her features.

She was right but he couldn't just sit and wait for whatever bad thing that awaited him. He could still breathe a bit without the collar. If he managed to get out of this building, he might find help.

 _'Please just behave. Any escape is infeasible. I really don't want to listen to another round of you crying in the checkup room.'_

Raphael frowned but lowered his hands. The alien was only making him feel worse and he really didn't need that. He turned his shell towards her and leaned on the wall, trying to block her out. Thankfully the alien on his left didn't look as eager to talk. The creature looked like it was sleeping.

 _Sleeping…_ Raph was still exhausted. Didn't even know how long he had slept. It didn't feel like more than a couple of hours. He felt his forehead and noticed the blue sticker was no longer there.

He wondered how much time had passed since he had gotten tackled into that van in the city. It had all happened so fast, but at the same time, it felt like there was just no end to the horror and humiliation he was dragged through. If only one thing had gone differently back then, he maybe wouldn't have ended up where he was, and his brothers wouldn't be searching for him through space like a needle in a haystack.

Raph was on the verge of tears at the thought that his brothers might never find him. _That can't happen. Never! That stupid insane alien freak is wrong!_

The door at the end of the narrow room suddenly opened and cut Raph's turmoil short. The air thickened with tension as the person on the other side threw a long shadow over the floor between the rows of green aliens, who all awakened with his arrival.

Raph observed the eerie shadow beside him and pulled his legs closer to the wall, away from the bright light. The reaction of the other GAGs told him this was nothing good. His attention switched to the source when the unfamiliar alien started striding through the room with slow, perverse steps, each step making Raph's jaw clench tighter.

The wrinkled up creature seemed to have his objective somewhere further past the turtle, but he stopped right in front of him as if he sensed a new presence that hadn't been there before. He considered him with a look Raph would rather not ever know the meaning of.

He glared back as threateningly as he could with that ominous alien towering over his defenseless body.

The alien said something in an ugly, gurgly language the collar translator didn't pick up, so Raph only scowled deeper.

The creature grew unamused after a few more seconds of silence and continued the walk further into the room.

Raph exhaled through his nostrils and slumped back in slight relief.

The thick silence was shattered with a loud cry.

Raph's head snapped towards the end of the room and he saw the wrinkly alien pulling one of the slaves back towards the entrance. The weaker creature wiggled and kicked as it got dragged behind.

The boy's eyes twitched while the animalistic, high-pitched howls rang in his ears. They continued all the unbearable way back to the door on the other side of the room where they suddenly died out after the heavy door closed behind them and left the rest in darkness again.

Raph wanted to ball up after the room fell silent, the silence now suffocating, caving into him, but the restraint didn't allow him even that much comfort as it chafed his skin when he leaned forward to hug his legs. It was a constant reminder that he was chained up like livestock and stuck there at the mercy of others.

 _… Please find me…_

xXx

He didn't know how much time passed. He almost fell asleep again when the thick door snapped open a second time. Instead of another creepy shadow, the whole room lit up. Raph hid his eyes from the sudden painful light.

"Wakey, wakey!" bellowed a voice he immediately recognized and his blood ran cold.

He forced his eyes open and looked at the large man in the doorway who had tortured him a few hours ago. Raph pressed his body closer against the wall, trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible.

"I want everything furless and hairless out the door right now!"

Raph looked through the room he could finally clearly see and saw all the aliens fitting the description unclasp their collars from the carabiners and get up. _The carabiners aren't locked!?_ Raph stared in shock as they obediently walked through the room and past the giant man one by one.

He continued to stare at the door and didn't immediately realize the worker was still standing by it, watching, waiting for him.

"That means you, too, newbie. Yeah, I allow you to move."

Raph finally snapped to his senses when he saw the alien move in the corner of his unfocused vision. He hurriedly grabbed the metal carabiner behind his head to unfasten it but couldn't figure out how to do so. How did it unclasp? His hands only started to nervously shake as fear spread through him when the scary alien started walking towards him.

"Allow me," the creature smirked scornfully.

Raphael dropped his arms in submission and sat still when he kneeled down before him.

Instead of the carabiner, the man intentionally groped his thigh and forced it against the floor, and used the other hand to take hold of his throat and force his head far back.

Raph moaned behind the tape from the strain.

He knew what the alien was doing – he was waiting for a reaction. Raph could easily use his free leg to kick him over the chest, or he could just use his hands to try to pry the large hands away. And the alien was waiting for exactly that – another reason to torment him.

Raph hated it to no end, but still managed to swallow all the fear, disgust and humiliation back down and remain motionless. It hurt his dignity to do so.

No! – _That man_ was the one trying to intimidate a scared, chained-up kid four times smaller than him with such a despicable act, not Raph. _He_ was the one sinking low by overpowering an already powerless kid, _not Raph._

But it still hurt…

The alien held him in the position for an extended moment, almost choking him as he did. "Good boy," he eventually cooed with a crooked smile before releasing the hold and unhooking his collar from the wall. "I'm happy to see an electric rod, a few encouraging words, and a nice nap made you reconsider your priorities," he chuckled as he pulled them both up to their feet.

Raph didn't even get a chance to fully collect his stance as he was pulled along by a hand on his bandaged arm, again intentionally being squeezed harder than necessary.

"We're going to go clean the filth and blood off of you, fast-heal all those bruises you still have, make you look new and pretty. _Appetizing._ Then you can go join the others upstairs."

Raph muffled a silent whimper when he was yanked along harder after his steps wavered for just a short moment.

xXx

The automatic door slid open and a tall figure stepped through into the cool and quiet inside. She fanned her heated face with her hand. "I'm cooked!" she announced her presence. Her cheeks were flushed and her skin warm from what she considered "heat", even when she only wore a simple white and blue leotard. "I know this moon is hot but seem to always forget just how much. Could I get a glass of water?"

A hideous human-sized larva had been leaning over the reception counter when he saw the enormous alien walk in. "Fallachis Maika!" he exclaimed and pushed himself off the counter. He would have welcomed the woman with a smile if his black-eyed bug face allowed him to do so. – "Seeris, go get our dear customer a glass of cold water like she asked for."

An alien he had been speaking to previously nodded. She stood up from behind the computer where she was sorting some files and walked off through a back door.

"What brings you here so soon?" he turned back to the visitor. "Were you not satisfied with-"

"It has nothing to do with you," the tall pink alien waved him off. She casually stepped through the room, slightly hunched with her head inches from the twenty-foot tall ceiling, and her eyes skimming the miniature, display projections on the shelves bellow her. She frowned as she remembered most of the slaves from last time. "Poor season?"

"No. It's going as always. You have just never returned after only half a year."

The worker returned with a glass of water and handed it up to Fallachis, who politely thanked her in return. She took a sip from the tiny cup wedged between her two fingers before she returned to looking the holograms over.

"Almost all of these are the same as last time."

"They must remain here for at least a year before they can be rejected. – _Which reminds me._ – Seeris," the grub turned to his worker who had sat back into her chair, "the butcher came through about twenty-five valyutes ago. He took GAG 12, BAB 26 and 63. Expire their files for me."

"Yes, Master."

"May I learn what it is that made you come back so soon?"

The woman straightened back up as much as she could in the building and readjusted her headphone-shaped breathing unit over her external gills, then padded her long flesh excrescences which reminded one of tentacle hair.

"Fleas!" she eventually said. "She got fleas and they got into everything else! It took forever to get them out of the carpet. – Even I got them! I don't even have fur. How embarrassing!"

"I'm saddened to hear that."

"Save your condolences, Tart. I don't wish to stay long. You know I don't like Elas."

"Could have fooled me, considering how often you visit."

The woman smiled down at the larva bitterly and returned the empty glass to him.

The creature had a difficult time holding the object with his rows of short, stubby hands.

"I don't want any hair this time."

The grub nodded after he had crawled back to the counter and laid the glass there, where it was safe from falling. "Seeris, tell Kuzmish to send every hairless and furless GAG upstairs."

 **xXVXx**

My artistic soul is waiting for your commentary... :D


	15. Baby Steps

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

I don't want to pretend that favorite and follow counts and reviews don't mean anything to me as long as I enjoy what I do. Enjoying making stories or art is definitely my top priority but people's support is very important to me too. My old stories used to get more attention than this one which I consider my best work so far (that sounds cocky but it's true haha), but seeing that the 2012 fandom had mostly retired now that there's a new show, I am sooooo very grateful for all the support I've still been given. Especially since this story is very specific, far from canon and very OC driven, with all the OCs and original enviroments from start to finish. So thank you! You guys are awesome! Just wanted to let you know that. :D I'm re-reading your reviews all the time because they lift my spirits and give me energy to do other stuff too. Even school stuff. Whaaa?

Okay, enough fluff! Let's get back into this suspenseful, psychological horror story ...or whatever this is!

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Fifteen**

 **Baby Steps**

April had been clutching her stomach where she sat on an oversized seat between Casey and Donnie.

They had been traveling over Singathef in a "floatie", a strange kind of flying speed train, definitely as fast as a plane, but it stopped at stations just like a regular Earth train. It was even built more like a train, with connected passenger cars. It moved through the air like electricity traveling through an electric fence – on invisible railway tracks built over the moon.

It flew over the black market too fast for the team to see anything clearly below them, so they eventually all leaned forward in their seats, each getting lost in their own thoughts.

April hated how oddly similar it felt to going on a subway in New York. How mundane it seemed. She felt like a tourist. _Just sitting on a train, traveling, rescuing a brother from being sold into slavery – everyday errands._

Fugitoid opposite her was thoroughly reading all of the papers and small print they had received at the terminal. Leonardo, who sat beside him, was attentively watching the blinking lights of the stop map above April's head. Three more dots had to light up until they would get off. He had a grim, thoughtful expression eating into his face, and April knew he was mentally preparing himself for what they were going to face soon. They all were.

The teen rubbed together her gloved palms, then leaned forward, cupping her head as best as she could with the helmet. They hadn't seen a single victim of slavery yet, but she could sense them. Misery and helplessness were everywhere around and it was settling into her own bones. She shuddered.

She turned around to look out the window again to try and distract herself. – A big mistake. They were flying very high at the moment and she could see how enormous the black market really was. A repeated scenery of tents and huts stretched far into the distance. It was only occasionally broken by randomly scattered larger buildings standing high over the flat land. There was no more sign of the large parking space and terminal they came through, but April spotted two different ones far away, near the horizon.

Singathef looked endless, and it felt endless as well.

She turned back forward and clutched her cramping stomach again. If they didn't find Raphael at the two possible locations, they would be left with no other choice but to look for him everywhere. And that would be hopeless from the start.

 _There was no point…_

 _Powerless…_

 _Lost…_

Voices echoed in her mind.

"You cool?" Casey looked at her pale face.

"No," she exhaled, realizing how miserably she was starting to think. There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "I sense them. And it's not individual thoughts and feelings. It's a whole pool of despair and it's making me sick."

Donatello looked up at her, brought out of his own thoughts. "Can you sense Raph?"

… "No."

xXx

"Here we have number 8, a female yasnovid. Third class with the exception of purple palms and soles. 47 percent. 36.7 nudges tall. Slightly longer limbs than usual for the species, gives it a slimmer look. Calm. Nice smile. Like all yasnovids, a good telepathist and illusionist.-"

"They're intrusive," Fallachis broke the impersonal explanation. "Besides, I'm not blind or deaf so I'd have no use for these abilities. They're only harder to control and keep information from. – What males do you have? I've had females for a while now."

The grub quickly nodded and crawled further through the room with his countless stubby legs. He looked over the straight line the GAGs had formed. It was a short line, only eight slaves. Most of the stock had stayed in the storage, not fitting Fallachis' description. "Here, I only have two hairless males from last time …and downstairs-"

The larva was interrupted again, this time by his receptionist walking into the room. "Master?" she stole his attention. "I need to speak with you."

Tart successfully pulled off an angered expression with his bug face when he turned towards her. But knowing his workers, he understood they wouldn't interrupt without a valid reason. "Excuse me, Fallachis Maika."

The tall alien nodded with a new glass of water in her hand and moved to the next slave in line by herself.

The grub followed his worker to the entrance of the display room where they stopped to talk privately. "What is it, Seeris?"

The other alien was at least twice his size but looked a lot less impressive standing in front of her ugly owner. "I just noticed we've received mail from a retrieving office not long ago," she said slightly nervously.

"No…"

"They wrote to inform you that a group of five is looking for a GAG relative who might be held in our store and that they humbly request the slave be put off the market until their arrival. I checked and the attached file matches our newbie." She paused for a second. "Sh-should I tell Kuzmish to take GAG 21 back to his storage room until they get here?"

"Of course not! First come, first served. Everyone has equal chances in my shop. Besides, I can't afford retrievers! I bought the slave for almost a double price! And I haven't sold a GAG in months. A single one can easily sell for four RARs!"

"I know, Master."

"Then you also understand we have to sell number 21 to our current customer if we want to profit?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good. Now let me do my job and tell your brother to hurry up!"

The worker ducked under his annoyed gaze and hurried back behind the reception counter and paperwork.

The larva watched her for a moment as she picked up a phone to call the other worker. He had hoped to sell the little troublemaking slave to a different buyer, but time was of the essence now. He would have to be satisfied with Fallachis. It all came down to money in the end, anyway. And the alien woman never disappointed from that end.

He returned to her side and rehearsed some approaches in his mind before turning his attention far up, to the waiting customer's face.

"Is there a problem?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. I see you have been speaking to number 5?"

"He's friendly." Fallachis smiled at the still and silent slave, who returned a smile, almost like a puppy hoping to get adopted. "Says his name is Pecenyo. I don't really like the name." She continued to look at the slave. "Have you considered "Alto"? It fits you better."

"You can name it whatever you want once it's yours."

"I'm not really interested in _him._ Like I said last time I was here, he's too tall and doesn't look pudgy enough. I don't think he'd be very appealing when altered." She was about to step to the next male, when the larva moved in her way.

"You seem tired of this stock, Fallachis Maika. May I propose a challenge?"

"A challenge?" the alien rose a painted eyebrow. The slimy man had caught her interest. She straightened her astride posture the best she could with the ceiling in the way, and listened to what he had to say. None of the boring old slaves had caught her eye so far and she was eager for a little change. "I love challenges."

"I have another completely fresh slave downstairs. It got here barely 150 valyutes ago. My worker is getting it cleaned as we speak but it should be here any moment. It even fits your given desires."

"And why is _he_ special?" She corrected the larva's use of pronouns again. She wasn't fond of the idea of "it" some salesmen liked to use, and she had to remind the creature every single time she returned to his shop.

 _"He's_ an eleven-percent. Barely over ten, actually."

"Already altered?"

"No."

Fallachis' eyes widened. "An untouched child."

"Tell me, have you ever had that before? A completely fresh slave, unexploited, untrained, with no need for de-aging – which means no loss of memory and no tiring confusion to deal with in the beginning."

Fallachis grinned, showing her thick canines. "Meaning he would be more defiant; a handful, a challenge," her cloudy blue eyes gleamed. This was exactly what she wanted. A problem to test her patience, not another tamed pet that she would grow bored of.

"Show him to me."

xXx

 _"Off off off!"_ Leo shouted nervously. They had been listening to Fugitoid reading the papers they had received at the terminal – mostly the ones about Singathef protocols – and they had almost missed their stop. He had one job and he almost messed that up!

Donnie jumped off onto the station platform last, right behind Casey, just when the doors slid back closed and the train took off at a terrifying speed back into the air and out of sight, like a giant worm being sucked into a black hole.

They didn't waste time marveling at the bizarre technology and new alien surroundings, and sped off in the direction of the factory they saw rising into the sky right behind the station building. They ran through the arched passage, through the station, and onto the street on the other side.

There were small boutiques on each side of the giant factory. The team ignored them and the small number of aliens that were on the street, and continued towards the tall building. They didn't even dare to look around, fearing that whatever they would notice would only make everything harder for them. They were only grateful that the path straight to the large building was empty and all the action was happening further away. They couldn't waste time on other slaves no matter how terrible it sounded to all of them.

They ascended the stairway to the entrance of the frightening Fountain Factory. It appeared like a dark, scary, over-sized Celtic castle. Dark copper towers covered in splotches of green were ascending from it far into the sky and the team was sure they saw lightning zapping between the tops of them like in a Frankenstein movie.

Fugitoid beeped. "We must hurry. If Raphael is not here, we have six valyutes – _bleep blorp_ – less than eleven minutes, to catch the floatie number five," he explained just as they rushed through the sliding door of the entrance, halting in the revealed large and busy room, lit with a golden light. Another line was waiting for them at the counter – their plan on being quick crumbled into dust.

"…The next floatie is thankfully only fourteen minutes later…" Fugitoid pitched nervously as they huddled together and cautiously walked through the place to the end of the line.

The room echoed loudly and the noise reminded the two humans of public pools, especially the racket near the water slide railings where you could hear lots of different child noises. In total contrast to the sound of the room was the appearance of it. It was like a medieval, Transylvanian, five-star hotel lobby. The room was high and the ceiling was unseen in the unlit darkness above. A giant glass chandelier hung from it on a fat chain, not far from their heads, and lit the lower part of the room, along with countless wall lights positioned at different heights.

All the lights were annoyingly reflecting in the team's helmets and causing some of the sleep-deprived teens unwanted headaches.

The line in front of them shortened soon after their arrival so they would hopefully still be up soon. There was only an old wrinkly couple left in front of them – but they sounded like they were arguing and April and Casey already abandoned that hope, knowing they could take forever.

"What do you mean she's not ready? We were told we'd get the child in under thirty valyutes. We've been waiting for fifty valyutes already!"

"I'm sorry, madam. We've been having a very busy cycle and one of our Rekian capsules is under repair. I'm afraid you will just have to wait along with everyone else. I am sure they will call your number soon."

"Unbelievable! Do you even know who you are speaking to-"

At that point Donnie tuned out the conversation. His attention wandered to his silent, oldest brother who stood a step or two away from the group, looking somewhere off into the other end of the golden-lit room. The tall turtle followed Leonardo's gaze and his eyes landed on two figures. One alien looked like he was having a hard time getting the smaller one to leave with a couple of workers in white uniforms. The small alien was crying and clutching the other's trousers like they were a lifeline. Donnie couldn't hear what they were saying, the echoing noise of the place drowned every word. But the weaker one, she was a slave. He didn't have to be a genius to understand that much. She probably wasn't the only slave in the room but he didn't feel like looking around to see more of them.

The crying woman looked like she was begging, probably trying to talk the other into not de-aging her.

Donnie's gaze fell to his feet, no longer wanting to watch the heartbreaking sight. The place was messed up in more ways than one. If Raph was there and they were too late, they would end up with a literal baby brother. Though Donnie wasn't fond of babies he was mainly horrified by the idea of someone erasing another person's life, reverting their growth and defining a new future for them. Who the person actually was would simply cease to exist. That was terrifying. A baby Raph wouldn't be Raph anymore. He would be Raph at a point more than fifteen years ago. He wouldn't grow under the same circumstances again and that would result in a different person in their lives. None of them wanted that. Donnie wanted Raph just how he had been half a day ago when they had split up on the stairs in the oversized city. He would even rather get him back with terrible experiences and memories – rather than get him with parts missing. Raph was a tough guy, he could mend his scars quickly – he could _not_ get his memory back, however, no matter how much he would try…

 _Maybe if Raph was traumatized for life it would be-_

The more Donatello thought about what was better, the more he disliked his thoughts.

He felt Leo's presence suddenly disappear beside him. The younger brother looked up from the floor only to see the young leader approaching the still struggling two aliens on the other side of the room.

 _Leo, no…_ Donatello dashed after him.

Leonardo had stepped up to the two aliens with the intention of pulling the aggressor away. He did not expect the said alien to smile at him and say, "No need to help. I got this under control, she's just a little freaked out. Still, thanks."

It made Leo stop in shock just enough for Donatello to reach him and grab his arm to pull him back.

"C'mon, Leo. Let's get back in line." The purple clad ninja was fiercely ignoring the sight, having his eyes focused back on their group by the counter, while he pulled his brother behind him.

They made a few paces when Leo pulled his arm out of Don's grasp. "Donnie, we gotta do something. Are you not hearing this?"

Donatello finally turned around to look at his brother's pained, torn expression. He took a glance behind him, too, at the two aliens a few feet away.

 _"But I don't want to forget my life."_

 _"But you won't know that. It'll be great. Like starting over."_

 _"What about my children? They haven't seen me for weeks."_

 _"You won't even know to worry about that anymore. Call it a burden off your shoulders."_

Donatello's insides were tangling themselves up. It was so, _so_ messed up. He looked at Leo again, and he could see his brother had an awfully hard time standing there doing nothing. Donnie recognized the panic behind the blue eyes – and it didn't plead "help her", it pleaded "help me" because Leonardo knew he wouldn't be able to keep listening to the two behind him for much longer. The fact that helping would make things worse was eating him alive.

"Leo," Donatello started, "give me your hand and let's go back to get _Raphael. Raphael,_ before they do something to _our brother. Let's get Raph, okay?"_

But Leo still stood there, not making a move to grasp Donatello's offered hand. He started to turn his head around when the alien's cries became louder.

"Leo!"

He froze and looked back forward with strain.

 _"Raph,_ Leo. – You're going to have to make a choice. That alien or your little brother." Donnie was growing desperate. He didn't want to drag his brother from there by force. He didn't believe he could if Leo became determined. "Raph is counting on you. He's the only one here counting on you. You know this."

Another extended moment passed before the leader finally nodded. He grasped Don's hand almost painfully and the taller turtle turned to walk them back to the group, which had noticed their disappearance and was watching them with concern.

"This is messed up, Donnie," Leo said halfway back.

"Don't think about it. Just forget it," Donatello caught himself saying and his mouth suddenly tasted bitter.

Once they reached the team, April asked in concern: "Are you two okay?"

Donnie saw how pale she was under the helmet and his heart went out to the telepathic girl. She must have had it the worst of all of them. She had mentioned she could hear the victims before they had even gotten off the floatie.

Instead of answering, Donatello squeezed April's shoulder reassuringly. The girl smiled up at the turtle then her gaze turned to Leonardo who remained silent, staring at the floor. She glanced lower and saw him still holding Donnie's hand as if it were the only thing keeping him there. She bit her tongue and turned back forward in the line.

April hoped that if she stared hard enough at their backs, the two costumers in front of them would leave faster.

She oddly thought Casey was doing the same until the boy turned to her with a look of someone who had been thinking about something too hard.

"What the heck do we do if we end up with a baby Raph? That orange alien back at the station said they could turn him back to normal. But his brain would only have what's left of his memories from when he was a baby. April, none of us even remembers anything from when we were that small. Raph would have zero memories then!"

April watched Casey with a frown and wished, for the first time, that Casey hadn't paid any attention to what someone had been explaining because she really didn't want to think about that yet.

She just hoped Raph wasn't there at all, even if it meant getting to him slower.

 **xXVXx**


	16. The Grub and His Business

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Merry Christmas, my current readers! I am currently sweating school. I thought I was going to get time during these one week holidays to catch up with all my assigments that I am falling behind with. But my school decided to give us school days on the 27. and 28.! I despise whoever is in charge of this, but at least we don't have school on the 24. and 31., too, like it was initially planned. :( Anyway, please enjoy Christmas more than I probably will... (I don't like complaining but I have the rights to!)

Also this is the perfect time to promote my fic 'Santa's Little Helper'. Go check it out if you like reading adorable holiday one shots, and if you want some fluff after this chapter...

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Sixteen**

 **The Grub and His Business**

Just as Tart sent the eight slaves back through the door they had come from to return to the basement, his other worker stepped through it, pulling with him the small new alien he had been waiting for.

"Kuzmish! Excellent timing."

The larva didn't fail to notice how some of the leaving slaves intentionally bumped their shoulders into the short turtle, making him have to move closer to his worker before flinching back away from him. It was only when the door had closed, that the vivid green eyes landed on the oversized larva and widened in what Tart understood without a doubt as panic.

The small alien had not been too thrilled to meet his new owner 150 valyutes ago. He had been very clear and loud with his thoughts on the _"ugly, evil, freak, maggot-faced"_ alien.

Back then Tart had quickly decided he didn't like the loud slave and had decided to himself he would try to find him a relentless and lascivious owner to crush the fire of defiance and disrespect in him. Maybe he would have taught him some manners himself, too…

But since Tart had recently learned the slave's family was coming after him, he had to make sure to at least sell him off to Fallachis Maika before they arrived. He would do anything in his power to sell the slave off. He felt that that mean-spirited child didn't deserve freedom after all the insults he had screamed at him earlier…

Raphael needed a minute to orient himself around the suddenly bright-lit room he had been led into. All the walls were empty and made from some natural, earthy red material that reminded him of termite hills. His eyes again landed on the giant, shiny larva in the middle of the room whose black eyes were drilling back at him like nails covered in acid. Raph's stomach turned and he wanted to gag. He let out a choked, muffled sound that made Kuzmish – _Apparently that's the madman's name. –_ chuckle.

Previously, the worker had stripped Raphael, washed him like a baby, and healed up all his cuts and bruises with a purple paste that was of a suspiciously similar color to the fur of the friendly aliens Raph had met a few hours ago. And now, when the humiliating task had ended, with his gear missing, Raph felt completely exposed and naked standing in front of the large grub like some polished trophy to ogle.

"Bring it here already," Tart ordered.

The larva watched how the alien's soles scraped on the sandpaper floor as he was shoved to stand in the middle of the room. _It seems Kuzmish has taught it to fear,_ he smiled inwardly.

The grub's beady black stare was sending off all the wrong vibes to Raph. There was something really disgusting about him, aside from his appearance.

Although the turtle knew that staying in one place would lift the chances of his brothers finding him, he had long ago abandoned the idea of stalling his time in the shop close to that _thing_ and the psychotic worker. He wanted to get away as soon as possible.

The worker clamped two straps like slap bracelets to Raph's lifted wrists and stole his attention for a second. As soon as Kuzmish let go of them, the two bracelets clamped together from a magnetic force, and from a tiny hole in the ground, between Raphael's feet, sprung a wire, also attaching itself by the same force.

Raphael stared at his strange, new binds for a second longer before he caught sight of the approaching larva again.

Tart watched, feeling pleased, as the slave immediately backed away, as far as his restrained arms could pull the short wire, pulling himself into a pathetic position. He noticed on the child's face that he wanted to say something to justify the cowardly act, but all that came out of his mouth was the sound of a panicked inhale.

It had a fairly big mouth in comparison to the construct of its face. Its lips were nice and soft too… _This one would be much better fit for prostitution-_

The man's dark train of thought was soon interrupted by his present customer.

"So you are the adorable eleven-percent I was told about?"

Tart watched the slave's gaze jump high up to where the voice had come from and his eyes stop on Fallachis' face as if he had not noticed her in the room until that moment. He noted that the giant's height intimidated him.

"He is a lot tinier than I assumed." Fallachis turned her gaze back to the larva. "When you said he's an eleven-percent, I thought of still pushing him back a bit on Rekia – two percent or three – but he looks very young as he is."

"Yes, it seems his species takes longer to grow and mature. The computer couldn't pinpoint his homeworld, so I assume he is from a younger, undeveloped planet which isn't in our mapping system yet."

"Is he slow?"

"He seems to understand things fairly quickly, although he is rather confused by most of our tools and what they do. And he certainly does not speak or understand Universal. He's uneducated rather than slow. Just a simpleminded slave."

Kuzmish felt the need to add, "He's dumb as a rock, Master."

The boy growled.

Tart offered his worker a disapproving look but didn't comment on the intrusion, nor did he acknowledge the slave's feral behavior.

After a silent moment of thought and observation, Fallachis Maika spoke up again. "This certainly puts him in a disadvantage…" she nodded approvingly. "And if I do not like it, my Third of First could teach him. He's still young, he should learn quickly."

Tart nodded thoughtfully, although his mind had wandered into different waters. "He could definitely learn to do a lot of things," he spoke in a tone the woman tried to ignore, "but I wouldn't encourage it- _him_ to think. Pets are only supposed to understand enough to obey."

"A hundred people – a hundred wonders, Tart." Fallachis stared down at the bug with distaste. "I suppose you wouldn't know that since you're always surrounded by simpleminded slaves."

The larva stared at her with his beady eyes, feeling very much insulted, but doing a fine job of keeping his thoughts to himself. "I suppose what you do with him is none of my business."

"I suppose," the alien exhaled then ignored the man. She squatted down in front of the turtle and smiled at him. "Mind telling me your name, sweetie?"

Raphael stared at the tall giant. She didn't look at him like Kuzmish did, malevolently and so full of hostility. And she certainly didn't look at him like the grub. There was a dash of something like integrity and kindness on her soft features which Raph had begun to long for. Despite his desperation for it to be true, he only scowled further, determined not to foolishly take the bait. "Very," he hissed.

"You mind sharing why?"

"Cause I don't wanna have nothing to do with you!"

Fallachis smirked at him, not offended in the slightest. "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you then."

Raph warily observed her amused expression for just the smallest indication that she had any horrible plans for him.

Her pink human-ish face was the size of his plastron, with thick, blunt fangs decorating her friendly smile, and it made him feel even smaller and weaker than he already was between all three aliens. He was two feet short of reaching the height of her knees when standing up straight. It was intimidating. But even so, she appeared to be the safest person for him at the moment. She could be his ticket out of immediate danger and then he could figure out his way from there.

Raphael didn't like the direction his thoughts were taking. He didn't know what to do or say to prove himself wrong so he settled with lame "Casey-style" comments to anger the giant and break her stupid act. "Do me a favor and shove those tentacle hairs down your stupid, Dracula mouth! I'd rather spend my time listening to psycho _Kuzmish,_ over there, than your stuck-up, snobby voice!"

"Tentacle hair? Are you talking about my sprouts? – And what's a Dracula?" She turned towards Tart.

"I think that was the name of one of my siblings? _…Or was it my mother…?"_

"Are you deaf?!" Raph yelled as they completely ignored what he had said. "You got something wedged in those headphones?"

The woman was staring at him again, reading him, and something told Raph she didn't mind his insults, _almost as if she understood…_

"I like the vibrant green in his eyes, Tart, and the spots on his skin. – Especially _that_ one." She poked a slightly more noticeable spot on Raph's cheek with the tip of her clawed hand.

Raphael flinched away then stared back in disbelief, his mouth hanging partly open. They were ignoring him completely. And he was wrong, she didn't care or understand! She just wanted a pet!

The boy was completely mortified because he preferred being _that_ rather than ending up alone with the larva or Kuzmish…

 _Shut up!_

He was growing angry with himself. He wasn't that helpless and pathetic!

He no longer liked the restricted position he had pulled himself in. He was unable to overlook that he was trapped with two options: losing all his dignity and begging the woman to be her pet, _or_ staying and keeping the high chances of getting raped.

He knew what was worse, he knew what would destroy him entirely, but even so he didn't act. The thought of molestation was so alien to him, part of him didn't believe it was even possible he might end up the victim of it. The fear was overwhelming, but it also felt made up, like something from a nightmare.

 _It can't happen._

He placed _"begging to become a pet"_ and _"no begging and potential rape"_ on a scale and desperately believed he would get away easily if he chose the latter. But a quieter, more terrified part of him knew he should never chance it.

"I told you to leave me alone!" he eventually shouted again, his voice sounding too miserable and desperate to his own ears.

He regretted his stupid decision the moment the last word left his lips. What was wrong with him!?

Fallachis stopped scanning every inch of his skin with her eyes and met his gaze. Her "white of the eye" was a light blue but darker than the iris and pupil, which were indistinguishable from one another, so murky and pale, but at the same time sharp and focused.

"You told me to be quiet – which I do not appreciate – you didn't tell me to leave you alone. And sadly, I don't take orders from children."

Raphael's eyes widened simultaneously with her straightening back up to her almost full, frightening height.

She wasn't going to leave him, was she…?

Fallachis Maika had picked up on the turmoil inside the small child. She noticed it in his delayed reactions, stuttering speech, and thinking, searching eyes, constantly glancing at the two men in the room, reminding himself of their presence without stop – before pulling back the makeshift mask of poise he tried to wear with crumbling pride. And now she saw the desire that was winning over and how much he didn't want her to see it.

Fallachis wasn't oblivious to what most slaves on the visible spectrum were being sold for and she didn't need to be a genius to see the alien knew, too, though it was her first time seeing a literal child being exposed to the horrors some people found pleasure in. She wasn't surprised by his reactions, but it didn't make them any easier to bear.

She had liked the tiny, adorable, cheeky kid as soon as she had seen him, but now she was also determined to buy him and remove him from the market. And she would not wait until his foolish pride broke from the pressure of having to just ask for it.

"Tart, how much for this one?"

She made sure to see the look of surprise and relief in the boy's eyes. And she also made sure to smile at him reassuringly when their eyes met.

xXx

"I apologize for the wait. How can I help you?"

Fugitoid didn't waste a second. He immediately handed the retrieving paper to the young alien behind the counter. "We're looking for a trafficked relative."

The man hesitated before taking the offered paper, carefully reading it, then slowly grabbing a bar code scanner and scanning the code in the top corner. It made the same sound as the ones in grocery stores. The alien continued to skim the document while checking the computer screen every few seconds to see if it had processed the information yet.

Finally he stated, "This person has never been here."

He saw a mixture of relief and anxiety on the customers' faces. He quickly checked the location of the slave. "He is in Tart's Spectrum Boutique."

"Let's hurry," Leonardo ordered. "We can still catch the floatie if we run."

"Yes! Thank you," Fugitoid took the paper back, ready to run back with the rest. They really had no time to stick around.

The alien grabbed his arm to get the last of the robot's attention. "Don't hand those kind of papers to anyone. We don't need to touch them to scan them. – It doesn't take much for something to happen to them."

Honeycutt recognized the strict seriousness on the alien's face. He thanked him for the advice before hurrying after the team.

They sprinted down the bare stairs, out of the scary building, and back through the station underpass. They saw a train already standing on a platform. Leo was about to reach it when Fugitoid, still running through the arched passage, shouted after them. "Don't get on!"

Leo halted together with everyone that had caught up and in the next moment, to everyone's horror, the passenger cars moved forward and the train quickly disappeared at a scary speed out of sight.

"Fugitoid, what the heck!? Why did you make us stop? We could have gotten on easily!"

"We could have, but what good would that do if we got on the wrong floatie? That one drives on line 9. We need to get on number 5."

"And where is it?" April asked. All three platforms were deserted and they were the only people on the station. Not many aliens were in that part of Singathef at all. Their surroundings were mostly only stacked shipping crates. And the lone street in front of the factory was practically a ghost town. Only the Fountain Factory appeared busy.

"I'm afraid we have just missed it by about twenty seconds."

"No!" Leo's cried out. He was losing it from worry. He felt like the world was turned against them with every step. And he feared that it would only continue on like that when they finally reached the other shop.

"The next one is in thirteen minutes. No need for panic now. What happened – happened. We can only be glad we haven't gotten a de-aged Raphael. That would have complicated things greatly."

"We should have just gone straight to that other place!"

"We had no knowledge where Raphael was, Leonardo. It was safer going here first. And as the alien from the retrieving office explained, we're already on the way to the boutique. We're going to ride for no longer than fifteen minutes now." Fugitoid was already unfolding the map to show the route to the teenagers.

"The smallest amount of lost time is _too_ much! We won't reach the place for the next half an hour. Raph has been missing for half a day already!"

"We know all that, Leo," Donatello pulled his anxious brother's attention onto himself. "We all want Raph back in one piece just as badly as you. But waiting is the only thing we can do right now…"

"Waiting is the only thing we have been doing! We have done next to nothing to bring him back! We don't even know what's happening to him! What if they do some _worse_ undoable thing to him? I mean, I know he's not dead, but what if we're too late?"

There was a note of desperation in Leonardo's voice Donnie had never heard before. The leader had been acting too explosive for it to be in his character – even in a pressuring situation like now. But Donatello suddenly understood as if his brother's pained eyes became an open book for a brief unguarded second. Everything clicked in his head and he wondered if his own brain had been intentionally keeping him from comprehending this obvious outcome.

Raph wasn't trapped in one of Shredder's dungeons. He was on the market, ready to be sold off at any moment. If they found him in Shredder's dungeon only a minute too late, he could be injured horribly or, in the worst case, dead. But if they were a minute late to find him here in the market, Raphael would be lost. They would be forced to accept their brother was gone from their lives while his life would continue on like a nightmare. That was worse than Raphael being turned back into a baby or even their brother practically dying.

Donnie suddenly had the urge to scream, too, but he crumpled all his emotions into a ball and tucked them away because he preferred to believe everything would turn out fine. It was easier.

"We'll get him back, Leo."

xXx

\- "Have I told you he is a mutation?" Tart asked as he handed the woman the ownership contract to read through.

"Fascinating!" Fallachis Maika was pleased with the information. She laid the small papers on the counter and sorted through them with one hand while her other one was busy holding hands with the little alien, keeping him from wandering off. She skimmed the contract's small print she already knew well, looking to see if she would stumble on anything new or updated.

"Unique then?"

"He made it _very_ clear he had brothers. – Seeris are you done with the rest of the papers, yet?"

The big worker behind the reception counter snapped up when she heard Tart call her name. "Just a valyute, Master. It's printing out. I was just about finished when I received new information with the recent refresh and needed to add that, too."

"What new information?" The grub crawled closer to lean over the counter and see the computer screen.

Seeris saved him the trouble and turned on a screen that appeared beside her out of thin air. She pushed the semi see-through holographic projection over the counter as if it were a solid object. It stopped and hovered in front of the larva, displaying all of the slave's data.

Tart scrolled through the basic information with one of his wiggling, stubby hands and noticed the new information in a different color. "He has a name now."

"Super." Fallachis smiled and Raphael only lowered his eyes in confusion.

"Apparently his name is _Raphael,_ dead family name: _Hamato,"_ Tart thoroughly pronounced the phonetic structure of the written name.

Raph listened in disbelief. _How…?_ _Where did they get that from?_ He hadn't told anyone so far. He suddenly began feeling paranoid. Had they done something to him? Had they hacked his brain or something?! …But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe the rest of the team could track him down now.

"Raphael," he heard the freakishly tall alien roll his name over her tongue. "It sounds a bit forced. I suppose El will have to do," she decided and picked up a pen from the counter to sign the ownership papers.

"It's Raph," the boy grumbled, not fond of the new nickname in the slightest.

"Why would you call yourself by the ugly part of your name?" the woman wrinkled her flat nose. "It's El from now on."

"You're not calling me that!"

"A small pot boils fast, _hmm?"_

"What?" He stared at the woman challengingly but Fallachis turned back to finish signing the rest of the documents Seeris had just finished printing out and laid on the counter for her.

Raphael still wasn't going to step down. "You are NOT calling me that!"

 _"Shush!"_ The giant lightly yanked his arm. "Behave. You do not get a say in this."

Raph scowled up at her but stayed quiet. He didn't even know why he was making a fuss over it. He had no intention of staying with her for long. Once they were off the black market he would escape and then find help from people that would actually be willing to help and not be slave drivers. He just needed to stay "kind of" well-behaved for now, so she would be less likely to expect him to escape later.

Raphael was finally getting his hopes back, feeling confident enough in the situation to start thinking about possible escapes again. The woman was doing him a huge favor and she didn't even know it.

 **xXVXx**

They can still make it! - Come on, guys! Run, run run!


	17. Locked Eyes

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

I hope you had a lovely Christmas and now I wish you a great and full New Year, too! :D

I heard the TMNT Universal Reader's Choice Awards are happening earlier this year. The nominations start on January 1. already! Check out their site and maybe give my story a hand. *wink wink* :)

The site: _ht"tps:"/"/"our-secret-lair."com/"how-to-be-ready-and-and-survive-to-the/_

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Seventeen**

 **Locked Eyes**

"There will be another ten-minute walk to the store," Fugitoid again reminded as they all crowded the door of the floatie, waiting for the next stop to get off.

"If we run fast, we can push it down to three," Leo declared, his serious leader voice back in action. "We just have to run in a straight line through the main road up to the central square where the building is located," he showed the way on the unfolded map for the hundredth time in the past twenty minutes, tracing his finger along the glossy paper. "There is _no way_ we can mess this up."

They couldn't afford to mess it up.

 _*Beep! Next stop is: Platsa Ohroh Tsenen*_

Leonardo's skin bristled from anxiety. "This is it, guys."

Quite a number of passengers stood up from their seats and moved to the doors. It seemed to be a popular stop, the group noted.

The train soon came to a halt and the doors slid open. The team slowed their confident sprint the moment they started it. They were immediately swallowed by a swarm of aliens crowding the station. They had to make sure to dodge the taller creatures and not get stomped or crushed.

The whole wide hill rising in front of them and its visible surroundings were covered in countless rainbow stands, each its own shape, size, and style, with narrow passages like veins running between them. This was a busy anthill in comparison to the previous location. But there was no time to be overwhelmed by it.

Leonardo shouted at his team over the loud rush, "You all know where to go! We'll meet inside!" and he took off running as fast as he could through the crowded station. The rest followed, finding their own gaps of space between the large aliens' bodies.

They were only a couple of minutes from finding Raphael …or not finding him at all. Although no one wished to even think about the latter.

xXx

Raphael was completely thrown off when he and Fallachis Maika stepped through the front door of Tart's store. He didn't even know where to focus his eyes in the busy, rushing scenery before him. From the aliens to the stands around the round square – everything was so colorful and different he was sure it was the weirdest and tackiest setting he had ever seen. The large crowds of aliens that surrounded them disturbed him mostly for the fact that they were all undoubtedly "slave shopping". The whole operation seemed bigger and bigger every time he was moved to a different location.

"I know the kitschy stands look interesting but we should get going," Fallachis petted his head affectionately and gently pulled him through the crowd. She was bent over slightly to be able to hold the turtle's hand comfortably while also making sure her large steps were slow enough for him to follow. "Let's take a side alley to the floatie stop. I don't like crowded roads on alien planets. You wouldn't believe how easy it is for me to kick someone while I walk."

Raph didn't understand why she was even bothering with explaining anything to him. It wasn't like she couldn't do whatever she wanted. Although knowing clearly worked in his advantage so he only kept quiet and obediently nodded. He was going to play this role of "slave" for now.

They moved into a narrower passage, away from the almost dangerous crowd.

"You're not thinking of running off are you?" the woman asked after a minute of walking and peeked down at him.

"No."

To Raph's surprise she loosened the hold on his hand. _Well she's easy to convince… What's that all about?_ He could easily pull his hand free now if he wanted to… Was she testing him to see if he would try to escape? Whatever it was, Raphael wouldn't take the bait. He had learned earlier in the day that running away didn't get him far anyway.

"Are you thirsty, El?"

Raph frowned at the nickname but followed her gaze to a stand they had stopped in front of. It sold a bunch of bottled drinks and weird snacks. In truth, Raphael was very thirsty and hungry but asking for anything was still strictly off his vocabulary. "No."

"Tell me if you need anything, okay?"

He stared at her with a doubtful frown. _I very much 'need' to find my brothers_ … He bit his tongue in exasperation and looked away. _What's even her deal? Why is she pretending to be nice…?_ He stared at all the aliens walking past them. Raph still wasn't entirely used to their whole space mission to save Earth and meeting aliens along the way. He still found it all weird and creepy, despite having his life surrounded by equally weird mutants. But despite that, he couldn't help but find the various large aliens walking around him as very mundane looking. There were no thugs or noticeable criminals wandering around like in many places they had already been to. Even Niktikleptis was full of them. But here, where everything _should_ look like a dump of criminals, it just appeared like a happy colorful, open Grand Bazaar.

Raph was brought out of his thoughts when his held hand dropped down to his side. He immediately looked up at the alien woman and saw her fully straightened up to her intimidating size for the first time, carefully opening something like a fruit bar she just purchased. Her large fingers seemed to have no problem unwrapping the small snack.

Fallachis noticed the boy staring at her just as she took a small bite. "Are you sure you don't want any?" she mumbled with her mouth full.

Before Raphael had the chance to utter another "no" she brought the bar in front of him. "Here. – Wait." She pulled it back and scavenged something that looked very similar to a smartphone out of her purse. Raph thought she was taking a picture of the snack as she held it out in front of the device but soon saw a red light scanning the food. A moment later she did the same with the barcode on his shoulder.

Raph stood quietly, keeping himself from asking what the heck she was doing.

"Here," Fallachis finally passed him the fruit bar after a silent moment of waiting. "It's okay for you to eat."

Raph reluctantly took it but didn't immediately move to eat it. _This isn't a trick, right?_ She already took a bite of it. And she wouldn't go through the trouble of making sure it's edible for him if it were poisoned or drugged…

"But don't eat" – she quickly pulled off – "the wrapper." She tucked the crumpled foil into her purse.

Raph looked at her like someone who didn't know if she was joking or being serious. He went with serious after her expression didn't change. "Thanks…?"

"Falla."

"Huh?"

"You can call me Falla for now." She smiled and took his left hand into hers again, and they proceeded down the street. "It's what my friends call me."

Raphael ate the oversized snack, trying to look as disinterested in it and the woman as he could. The bar tasted like crunchy dried grass. Only his hunger kept him from discarding it.

"Well, you can call me _Raph,"_ he grumbled after another bite.

"I'll… keep the proposition in mind even though you already know my thoughts on it."

Raphael sent another scowl her way but didn't say anything else. The fact that she wanted to banter with him was just _weird._ Well at least he got something to eat before he could add starvation to his list of problems. And gaining her trust seemed to be easier than it had seemed at first. She appeared much more stern back in the store. Although Raphael hadn't failed to notice that she and the grub weren't very fond of each other.

"Do you like the snack?"

 _Is she not done talking?_ …"It's …weird."

"But you ate almost the whole thing already."

Raphael stared at the little bit of the snack he still held between his finger and thumb. "This is worth talking about, _why?"_ – _Can't she just leave me alone already so I can think!?_

Fallachis could almost feel the frustration smoldering inside the small boy. She decided to leave him to himself for a short while. He had a rough day behind him. Although she knew they would have to work on his cheeky behavior in the future.

She straightened back up as much as she could while holding his hand and lifted her gaze. Her eyes swept the busy main road she could easily see over the stands on their right. There in the rush was a small pair of blue eyes that caught her interest when she looked into the crowd. They had widened when they noticed her tall posture ascending over the roofs, but the alien caught Falla's attention when she noticed the familiar shape and size, and unusual shell half hidden under the white and blue breathing unit. The alien's run slowed when he sensed the awareness cross her face.

She quickly broke the eye contact and faced back forward. Her hold on the boy tightened. _Tart, you ugly, horrible vermin…_

Before Raphael could notice the change in the air, Fallachis' eyes found something else to focus on. "Hey, look at that! A Carnolian candle shop!" she exclaimed and pulled the boy to skip a few feet further down the path. "I love scented candles," she declared then immediately addressed the woman behind the counter.

"Hello, good day."

A merchant greeted back, "Good day! How can I help you?"

"Would you happen to have the Absent Breeze?"

The large wooden stand was stacked with countless colorful candles and boxes littering the shelves. Raphael was thrown off by Falla's sudden interest in it. _What just happened?_

"We sure do, ma'am!" The fat bristly alien behind the stand smiled at the tall woman as she picked up an already boxed set of candles from one of her stacks.

"I'll take one box then."

"Anything else?"

Fallachis looked down at the turtle whose hand she still held. "Have you ever smelled the Absent Breeze candle, El?"

"Uh, _no?"_

"Oh, then you have to try it! It smells so peaceful." She turned back to the merchant. "Would you be so kind as to prepare one for the boy?"

 _Prepare?_ Raphael watched intensely and very much confused as the merchant brought up a tiny "tester" candle from under the table. It was barely the size of chewed gum. She sat it on a small plastic plate, lit it up and immediately covered it with a clear dome. The orange flame continued to burn under it, producing light yellowish smoke, until all the wax melted into a tiny puddle after about five long seconds.

"Here you go, little boy," the merchant offered the plate with the golden mist still swirling inside of it.

Raph observed it in confusion and didn't make a move to reach for it. _Those are very unnecessary steps to smell a candle…_

He noticed Fallachis staring somewhere far back over the stands they had just passed before she crouched down to be somewhat at his height, took the plate and brought it down closer to him. "Here," she smiled.

The genuine excitement in her voice had spiked Raph's curiosity in spite of himself. _This weirdo really likes smelling candles. Fine, let's see what so amazing about alien candles if it means earning this woman's trust._ He confidently took the saucer from her giant hand, provokingly staring at her as he did, still somehow wanting to prove he was not afraid of her despite going along with what she wanted.

"What do we say?"

"What?"

"Thank the salesperson for the free sample."

Raphael's eyes widened for a second, completely taken aback by what Falla expected of him. His first thought was to say "no" but he was still set on his plan to try and be good so he would have better chances of escaping later. _"...Uh,"_ he quickly glanced in the other woman's direction, "…thanks?"

Fallachis smiled. "Good child." She lifted her hand to pat his head but the turtle quickly moved away from it.

Raphael stared at her for another moment, trying to figure out the purpose of her unsettling behavior. He soon dropped it, not even wanting to know. He redirected his attention back to the melted candle. The golden air still swirled under the clear dome almost mesmerizingly.

Raph slowly lifted it to finally smell what the fuss was about. The aromatic air escaped out of the crack and he carefully sniffed it. It was soothing and slightly sweet. His worried frown softened as he inhaled deeper. _It was so very soothing…_ It smelled like Master Splinter's tea. The memory of home and warmth and family, it all slowly invaded his thoughts. Raphael wasn't even aware he closed his eyes and his shoulders lowered. …Mostly it smelled like peace and trust.-

"It smells nice, doesn't it? You seemed like you needed something to unwind."

At the tone of the comment, danger alerts went off in Raphael's head. He pulled himself from the captivated state and snapped his sharp eyes open. He immediately threw the plastic plate and dome away into the street and backed away from where the already inhaled cloud used to be. "W-what was in that?"

"Don't throw things on the ground, El!"

"What was that thing!?"

"Just a little pacifier. You seem a bit uneasy."

"You tricked me!" _And I fell for it! What the heck is wrong with me?_ Raphael made another step back. _I can't get drugged now! I seriously don't need any more drugs in my body! I've had poison and antidote, a weird, uh, sleeping bandage and now an alien candle sedative all put into me in the last… uhh…_ Raph spaced out. _In the last- …in the- She drugged me and I need to get away! – I, um…!_

Fallachis watched the vibrant, vigilant eyes tarnish with confusion. "This will be good for you. You've been through a lot already today."

"No…" Raphael moved away from her gentle hand again. He couldn't understand what she was doing or wanted. _I don't feel good, I feel really, really bad._ He began struggling with his thoughts.

"Do you want to go?" Fallachis proposed as if that would solve his problem. She rose up and placed the purchased candle box in her small purse – big enough to be an Earthly backpack. Lifting her hand, she waited for him to take it.

Raphael finally worked his blanking-out brain to come up with a single sentence. "You're a liar!"

"Do you not agree that you have a bad day behind you? I just want you to feel better."

Raphael did feel more relaxed but something was wrong with him. He _knew._ He just couldn't pinpoint what it was anymore _._ But the alien was making sense. She shouldn't be… Right? _But, no,_ he really had been through a nightmare in the past hours. What was he accusing her of lying about again…?

She was helping… No, that sounded wrong. She was a bad guy and she drugged him!

"Do you want something to drink, El?"

Raphael pressed his tongue against his teeth. He had been very thirsty. His mouth had been dry and sticky for a while. And he never washed away the lingering taste of puke…

"…Y- Yes."

xXx

Leonardo stared at the giant, pink, alien woman whose height reached high over the roofs of the stands he was passing. He thought he had noticed something like realization cross her features in the way she looked back down at him. But her halted gaze quickly turned away and she proceeded further down the hill, no longer showing any interest in his presence.

 _What am I doing standing around?_ Leo quickly pulled himself back together and out of his unnecessarily paranoid thoughts. He didn't have time to be suspicious of every alien that looked at him for more than three seconds. Raphael was already less than a minute away, but time was still their enemy.

He forced his legs back into a sprint through the large crowd, straining to reach his brother as quickly as he could.

 _You'd better be there, Raph!_

 **xXVXx**


	18. We're Out of Stock

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

I hit 100 reviews before New Year's! _Woo hoo!_ :D Thank you so much, you awesome people who review!

This is a shorter "filler" chapter. It's still necessary and doesn't fit with neither the previous or next chapter. It has to be a stand alone. It does leave a good clue for later, however. I'm sure you can figure it out. ;)

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Eighteen**

 **We're Out of Stock**

Donatello ran uphill through the thick mass of aliens that were swarming everywhere, even above and below him. It was harder to dodge and maneuver through the unpredictable crowd than he had first estimated. He had also forgotten to take into account the large bulky spacesuits they were wearing. He would seriously need to ask the professor why he hadn't given them the small breathing collars the majority wore. Those seemed much more practical – especially for combat and stealth missions.

Distracted by his thoughts, he almost ran into an alien that passed him pulling a bunch of colorful, sparkly helium balloons behind it – that was until Donatello realized they were some sort of flying fairies attached to small golden chains being pulled away by the much bigger creature. Donnie's eyes widened but he quickly shook his head and proceeded forward.

He finally reached a wide paved square on top of the hill – the crossroad of all the passages through this particular market. His run slowed down into a jog towards the only visible building in the area – if it could even be called a building. The earthy mass that rose from the ground reminded him a lot more of a miniature Uluru than a constructed dwelling.

A double glass door was built into the red rock in front with a minimalistic sign carved above it. Donnie bit his cheek, already more than sick of feeling illiterate for the past two months in space. Maybe he should ask the professor for lessons in the Universal language and writing that he kept mentioning?-

 _Focus, Donnie!_ Raphael's life was on the line and he was thinking about everything else. He didn't know why, but he wasn't as worried as Leonardo. Somehow he didn't believe Raphael could already be sold. He mostly didn't want to believe. Maybe he was making up for the lack of Mikey's optimistic thinking…?

His brother was being sold at an extremely high, _luxurious_ price, so logic made him doubt someone would have already bought him in the span of a few hours. The retrieving office lady hadn't given him the impression that there was a big chance they could end up too late. …And this was Raph for crying out loud! Who would want that uncivilized brute for anything? Especially for something like- _like…_

Donatello's gut turned because, unlike the rest, he assumed, he had connected the dots of the things he had noticed Fugitoid kept silent about when reading all the papers on the train…

…Basically no one would do or want to do something like _that_ to his brother, and that was why Donatello was positive Raphael was inside that building, smoldering with anger and just waiting to be rescued.

"Raph is fine," he caught himself saying under his heavy breath as he jogged over the busy square towards the eerie, unmovable building. His hands were oddly cold and clammy, and his skin began to itch.

He shouldn't be so nervous now. They were practically reunited already.

"Raph is fine!" he repeated his words more loudly thinking it would sound more convincing, but it had the exact opposite effect. He quickened his already fast run to the entrance until he broke into a full blown sprint again.

 _…Something is wrong…_

He didn't feel right. His desperate belief crumbled. It suddenly felt too easy. – Raphael practically being given to them on a plate.

Leo's fear haunted him. "Raphael being lost from them forever while his life continued like a nightmare." It was even more terrifying when Donnie included his own assumptions. His brother would be completely broken!

In the last second he noticed that the polished glass door he wanted to push through was a revolving door, and stopped just before crashing into it. He impatiently waited the single unbearable second it took for it to slide open, then he quickly stormed inside with panic suddenly hailing down on him.

The simplistic lobby he dashed into was a carved, wide passage with shelves of turned-off projectors leading to a reception counter in a wider room at the very end.

Before he even reached it, he heard a large human-sized grub that was wallowing at its side – which he had first completely blocked out of his mind – address him.

"You walk with the nervousness of a retriever. And you look just like the slave that came in stock earlier.-"

"Where is he?" Donnie asked breathlessly and finally slowed down a few feet away. His heart thumped anxiously under his plastron. _It knows Raph._ He didn't know if that was entirely a good thing while he looked over the hideous creature. That thing had better not come close to his insectophobic brother.

"Not a matching or complimentary eye color however…"

Donnie ignored the comment about his brown eyes, despite it infuriating him. "Where is my brother?" he demanded more sternly once he finally caught his breath and stepped up to the counter. He didn't know whether to look at the grub or the large receptionist. He preferred the receptionist. The ugly larva's black stare creeped him out. He had no idea where his numerous eyes were even looking at.

"The rest of my family will be here at any moment and they have the retrieving papers."

Just as he finished the sentence a bang startled everyone in the room. The revolving door almost shattered as a running body tackled it, trying to push it open by force. As he gave it a moment to slide apart Leonardo impatiently dashed in and up to Donnie's side.

"Is he…?"

"Yeah, he's here," Donatello reassured with a brief smile.

Seeris scratched her arm nervously and glanced at the grub. After receiving a silent confirmation she spoke up. "We never said that."

Both brothers thought their hearts stopped.

Donnie quickly collected his rattled mind and spoke up before Leo could. "You just said he's here!" He was again staring at the ugly larva with a furious scowl.

"Mr. Tart said he _was_ here, but he was just selected for checkout five valyutes ago."

Donnie's throat went dry. This was their final destination to find Raphael. He was supposed to be here waiting for them! There weren't any more leads to follow! There was no plan beyond this!

They missed him by minutes.

Leonardo's fear was coming true.

xXx

They slowly walked through one of the large, elongated arches leading from an enormous terminal building, and reached a seemingly endless landing space much like the one he remembered from earlier in the day. The spaceships on this one all looked much newer and smaller however – personalized vehicles.

Raphael rubbed his shoulder where the code still remained and stung his muscles. They had magnetized it at check-out and it was almost as painful as receiving it had been.

It didn't hurt so badly anymore though…

"Are you okay, sweetie?"

The turtle's glossy eyes dragged to the woman's face. "…Mhm."

"It'll stop stinging soon." She stroked his head and Raph felt frozen to the spot. It was a nice, tender gesture but something in the back of his mind was shouting that it was bad.

"The bad is behind you already."

Raph quickly dismissed his concerned thoughts when Fallachis smiled. He immediately believed her words. He squeezed her warm hand and nodded again. She took him away from Kuzmish and the grub, and out of the market. She really was helping him.

The woman's eyes jumped somewhere further down the lot. "Look, El, the van's here. Come on, we're in a hurry. We wouldn't want to miss it." She gently nudged his hand to continue their walk in the direction where a hovering, roofless vehicle had just parked itself by one of the marked poles.

Once they reached it, a smaller queue of aliens was already climbing onto the wagon while a large –not nearly as large as Fallachis – alien sat upfront and blurted out numbers to every new passenger.

Each alien that got on board received one from the wrinkly alien, and then nodded in approval. Raphael listened intently but couldn't figure out what the numbers meant.

When Falla stooped down to climb into the vehicle the man looked at her and announced _"F305"._ The woman paid almost no attention to him and only nodded absentmindedly like everyone else had.

Raph dumbly stood by the wagon door waiting for Falla's instructions. His eyes had been fixated on the wrinkled alien who had redirected his gaze at him.

 _"F289?"_ the man sounded unsure.

Raphael still didn't know what the number meant so he only nodded like everyone else had.

 **xXVXx**


	19. Second Chance

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

 _CreepyPastera_ was again the only one of my reviewers to figure out the "clue" in the previous chapter! I actually honestly thought more of you'll remember at least enough to go back a couple of chapters and confirm your assumptions... :P Well anyway, brace yourself for this chapter!

Also I'm going to do the shameless and remind you that the TMNT Fanfic nominations are happening right now and until the 22. and that you can give this story (and many others you've read in the past year and enjoyed) a helping hand in popularity. :)

https":"/"/"our-secret-lair."com/readers-choice-awards/

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Nineteen**

 **Second Chance**

"C'mon food-o-matic! _Give. Me. Pizza!"_

Unfortunately the only thing that was spat out of the alien machine was a sad, sloppy, undercooked pizza that Michelangelo oddly associated with himself at the moment. He felt lousy, and being left behind in the spaceship was not making him feel any better. Being grounded in the lair for a week was already a nightmare. Being grounded in a ship three times smaller with none of his stuff for two months was suffocating. And now he was alone, too!

Mikey looked at the sorry excuse for a pizza spreading over the surface of the table and decided he no longer felt like eating. He left it to do its sad performance on its own and returned to the main room in the upper level for the hundredth time since he had been left alone.

What was taking the rest of the team so long!? He had assumed they would have been back by now. A couple of hours had probably already passed since they left!

His eyes scanned a strange clock on Fugitoid's controls and the corners of his frown stretched even further down. He had never bothered to learn how to read it. Not that there were any days and nights to follow in space…

Had the rest found Raphael yet? They would have called if something was wrong, right? Mikey shook his head, banishing the thought of anything going even slightly wrong. They were all probably on their way back.

But for all the youngest turtle knew that could take another hour and he was _bored!_

"Ugh!" He dramatically threw his arms over his head while dragging his feet in impatient circles.

He could just go back down to the simulation room and talk the voice controlled machine into setting him up for another match, but he didn't understand the weird settings well, and fighting Rahzar Mortal Kombat style for the gazillionth time didn't sound tempting.

"If I stay cooped up in here any longer, I'm going to _KABOOM!"_ he motioned his head exploding into a mushroom cloud while not breaking his intense circular walk. Of course no one saw him or heard him and his arms fell back to his sides. He was alone…

The sky blue eyes, suddenly bright from an obvious idea, skipped to the closet door where all of the space gear and gadgets were stored. His marching feet halted.

He wouldn't go far. …Just out for some fresh air _inside the helmet…_ and to stretch his legs _that he totally can't stretch inside…_

From prankster instinct Mikey checked again if anyone was watching him in the obviously empty ship before skipping to the newly-labeled "forbidden door", and, after a short pause, into the "forbidden closet".

No one would even know he went outside for a teeny tiny bit.

And if they came back soon- Well, that was just an "if", and bad ifs didn't happen in Mikey's plans. …At least they weren't planned.

 _Amazing plan!_

He needed to do something fun to distract himself. He didn't want to think about anything that could have happened to Raphael before Leo and Donnie found him. The turtle easily pulled his spacesuit on for the third time that day, then grabbed a white duffel bag he found lying in one of the unused lockers.

He hummed a playful tune while his eyes scanned the shelves for anything fun to try out.

There were the proton pucks Casey liked. He dumped some of those into the bag. He however couldn't make out anything else he would actually know how to use or know what it was. Laying his arm over the end of one shelf, he dragged it across, dumping a bunch of the weird devices directly into the bag.

Finally satisfied with the amount, he zipped the bag up and flung it over his shoulder.

"Okay! Let us proceed with the mission," he announced in a deep, serious voice.

Grabbing his helmet from the bench, Mikey locked it in place before skipping out of the closet and to the spaceship's exit. While mimicking Darth Vader's breathing, he slowly stepped into the airlock and made sure the door behind him closed and locked properly. He had heard Donnie explaining the importance to him enough times for him to grasp the idea of how an airlock works. When nothing seemed like it shouldn't, he proceeded and pressed a button to unlock the exit latch.

The hatch lowered like a futuristic drawbridge and revealed the sunny parking lot. Mikey grew to love sunny days ever since they had lived at April's farmhouse, and he hadn't had the chance to bathe under the warm rays in a long, long time. A smile crept onto his face.

"One small step for a turtle," the boy stepped to the edge of the hatch, "one giant leap for turtlekind." With a slow-motion swing he jumped off. Gravity did its boring job and he landed with a complimentary hard thump on the dry ground. _"Uf!"_

Straightening his stance, Mikey breathed in a lungful of "fresh" air only to remind himself about the helmet he wore. "Oh yeah, right." Space was unnecessarily confusing and lame with some things…

For a minute he stood still in the endless parking lot taking in the surroundings. Almost all of the parking spaces were occupied with space ships – each ship stranger than the last. One stood tiny in the wide parking spot like an old flower power minivan while its neighbor, a large sleek black cruiser took up its whole space. What Michelangelo found interesting was that he could tell the two ships weren't much different in size compared to how big their owners probably were.

Mikey imagined Mondo Gecko and Kraang Prime living in the same apartment building, and laughed to himself.

Interspecies places were bizarre!

xXx

*Donatello, where the heck are you!?* Donnie heard his brother's angry whisper come from the communicator attached to his suit.

"They can't possibly be telling the truth, Leo. Raph should still be here," the tall turtle whispered back then quickly turned the device silent the moment Leonardo started scolding him for sneaking off in the store.

He hurried down a dark narrow passage with steep stairs leading into darkness. It was eerie but it wouldn't stop Donnie from finding Raphael in whatever pitch black hole they thought they could hide him in.

He met a metal door at the bottom of the stairway and could see white light creeping in from the crack below it. Donatello only allowed himself a longer inhale under the bulky helmet before repeating the same thing he had done upstairs a minute ago. He cracked opened the door to see if anyone was on the other side, then carefully slipped into the empty room, and slowly, silently closed the door behind him.

It was another hallway, this one wide with a selection of doors on each side. Donnie hesitated as a scary feeling crept into him. He suddenly found his skin crawling and itching. Just the still atmosphere of the place was enough to paint a scary picture in his mind without having to know what was happening there.

The air was dead silent but the place wasn't deserted… He stared at the doors for a moment. They were big, heavy, and all identical, same as the door he had come through. Only the last door at the other end was a wider double door. He knew Raphael had to be locked behind one of them but somehow he didn't want to force himself to try them all.

After a silent moment of standing around, his eyes caught sight of small markings above every handle. Each door had two small dots painted there in different colors.

 _Red – red; red – green; orange – orange; orange – blue; yellow – yellow; yellow – purple…_ Donatello slowly stepped through the hallway until his walk came to a stop in front of one of the doors.

 _Green – green._

xXx

Michelangelo sat in the shade of the Ulixes, pulling apart something that looked like a laser pistol. Tape, same as those in audio cassettes, was coming out of it and the turtle was trying to figure out what went wrong in trying to use it. … _"Houston,_ what the heck?"

He was in the middle of trying to forcefully shove the tangled tape back into the hole when a quick vehicle came zipping by and stopped directly in front of Fugitoid's ship.

Mikey, safely hidden behind the ship's leg, jumped up at the sudden sound. After a short moment of hiding, he carefully peeked from behind the pillar to see who it was.

It was just the wagon that dropped off costumers, again. It flew past every few minutes. _But why'd it stop? Don't tell me the guys are here! They'll kill me if they see me outside!_

To Michelangelo's surprise and short-lived relief, he only saw one familiar face on board amongst other bigger aliens.

 _Raph?!_

His missing brother was bare and collared, sitting in a giant's lap like a patient, obedient pup. Mikey's eyes widened while his forehead wrinkled together from the unsettling, unworldly sight. He found himself completely frozen to the spot, his stare fixated on Raph, his thoughts completely lost.

 _They didn't find him…?_

Over the dead silence in his head, he heard the giant pink woman say to the driver, _"It's F305 not F289,"_ just as he saw recognition slowly – too slowly – crawling onto Raphael's face at the sight of the Ulixes.

As the vehicle began to move again all the wheels in Mikey's head did, too. His brain and body finally broke out of shock and allowed panic to take place. He dashed from under the ship to uselessly stare after the leaving wagon. "What do I do!?"

He paced in place for a fracture of a second then scrambled to press the communicator on his suit. "Uhm, guys? Did you find Raph?"

…

 _Why doesn't anyone answer?_

What was he doing!? They couldn't help him if they weren't there! And of course they didn't find Raph! He was right there! He was on that wagon! And something had to be very wrong with him! He didn't even try to escape!

Mikey was running after the transport before he even realized he moved.

The duffel bag was annoyingly bumping against his hip, and he soon tried to drop it in his run. Unfortunately he couldn't pull the strap over his head while he wore the helmet. "Ugh, stupid bag!" He carelessly threw out a few of the items to lose weight before focusing everything back into sprinting down the parking lot.

The wagon stopped about a thousand feet further ahead and to Mikey's relief the people who were getting off were Raphael and the alien lady who now held his hand.

 _Why isn't he fighting her off? – Did she hypnotize him? Uhh… drug him? Do drugs even work like that?_

Mikey was suddenly extremely glad to be the fastest runner of his brothers. He closed the distance in record time and was only another hundred feet away when he worked up the strength to shout over his loud breath.

 _"Raph!"_

Raphael followed Fallachis onto a steep platform leading into a spaceship when he heard a familiar shout break over the land. He halted along with Falla whose grip on his hand tightened, again. Even everyone in the wagon looked back at the unfolding scene.

Raph's heavy eyes followed the direction of the sound and slowly focused on a small green figure running towards them.

"Mikey?"

Mikey was there? How was he there… Did they really track him down!? But where was everyone else?

Once his little brother came closer Raph recognized a scared, panicked look behind the helmet. _…W-Was he kidnapped, too?!_

With a sudden surge of protectiveness, Raphael pulled his hand free from Falla's unsuspecting hold, and jumped off the platform. He paid no mind to the woman's shout and hurried to his little brother's side as fast as his klutzy legs could carry him.

"Mikey, they didn't hurt-?" The moment they closed distance Raph tried to grasp Mikey's shoulders, but the younger turtle's movements were faster, and he grabbed Raph's wrist, turned around on his heels, and bolted back down the parking lot.

Raphael needed a few seconds to work his legs into a sudden sprint and Michelangelo immediately noticed he was struggling to keep up. Mikey clutched his hand tighter and pulled him along harder. There was no way he was fighting any of those huge aliens and something was obviously wrong with Raph so he wouldn't be of any help either.

"Hurry, Raph!"

Mikey was only glad to see the giant woman had no intention of running after them because he was sure she could catch up to them with just a few longer steps. He soon made a sharp turn between the spaceships to dodge their sight.

They just needed to get to the Ulixes and then they could hide, and then he would contact Leo again, and he would know what to do!

Raphael's hand was suddenly yanked from under Mikey's tightly curled fingers and the little brother immediately halted. He saw Raph breathing heavily and grabbing at the rim of his plastron. He looked as pale as a ghost. But even if a mess, he was there and alive!

"Lungs hurt…"

"Dude, it's just a little more. We're almost there. – Does it hurt bad?" Mikey skipped to his side, concern overflowing the relief. …Raph never complained when he hurt somewhere.

"Why are we running?"

… "To… To get you away from those bad guys. – Which we still haven't done!"

"No, you got it wrong. Falla's helping me get away from this place. You should go with her, too."

Mikey couldn't believe what he heard come out of his least trusting and most suspicious, pessimistic brother's mouth. The lost, tired look in those green eyes was scaring him and it told him he shouldn't believe Raph's words one bit. Even if drugged, how could he believe that? He ran away from that freakishly tall woman when he saw Mikey – a part of him had to know that she was evil.

"C'mon Raph, get it together _…please,"_ Mikey pleaded. "You saw Fugitoid's ship! We're all here looking for you. That alien just wants to take you even farther away from us!"

When he received no clear response other than a confused, doe-eyed look, he grabbed his wrist again, and pulled him back into a run towards the Ulixes. They just needed to get inside and lock up the ship.

Not even a quarter of a minute passed when distant sirens made Michelangelo's blood run cold. _The police? –She called the police on us?!_ He noticed dark vehicles in the distance.

Still running, he snatched the communicator from his chest plate. "Leo! _Someone!_ Pick up already! I foun- _AAAH!"_ Mikey skid to a halt, shaking his burned fingers. He noticed the device now smoldering, broken on the ground. He quickly turned ahead where the blast had come from.

Police vehicles had already stopped there in a matter of seconds. About a dozen officers in black uniforms stood outside them two hundred feet away from the two turtles, blocking the way to the Ulixes or any way around it. One of the officers was loudly scolding another who was lowering his gun away from the turtles' direction.

Mikey could hear more sirens in the distance. They were going to be surrounded in a moment!

"They sent a whole army at us! What do we do!?" the little brother piped up while Raph quietly stood beside him, not entirely understanding what was going on.

"…Maybe they're here to help. A-Aren't they the police?"

"No, they are gonna take you away again! This place is crazy!"

Raphael's eyes widened at the response.

Although Mikey was confident he could slip between the police to safety, he knew he had no chance with Raph drugged out of his mind and depending on him. If the roles were switched, Raph could easily carry him. But Mikey wasn't strong like Raph and Raph was _heavy._

Mikey's grip on his brother's hand tightened. What should they do? Mikey wasn't the plan guy. He had just rushed in to save his brother without thinking about anything even once. The police were going to separate them and his attempt at a rescue wouldn't even matter in the end. – Where the heck was the rest of the team!?

 _"Step away from the stolen property immediately!"_ came a static sound from a megaphone up ahead.

 _Stolen property?_ – "That's my brother you're talking about, dude!"

 _Panic._

He didn't even have any smoke bombs or anything that could- _No, wait!_ – Hurriedly Mikey stepped behind Raphael out of sight, while his free hand started searching through the forgotten duffel bag he still had hanging over his shoulder. He was trying to find something that could help them.

 _Nope. No. Nuh-uh. No…_

 _What's this?_ His fingers curled around an orb and he looked down to see it. _Yes!_

"Raph," he called for his brother's attention. He looked at him and Mikey swore he had never seen his big brother look so _…lost …absent._ "You gotta-" _No,_ he quickly stopped himself. He couldn't rely on him like this. Raph's brain was completely scrambled, and he could mess up completely – even if he just knew what Mikey was thinking.

A rushed, improvised idea formed in the turtle's easily-distracted mind and he clung to it for dear life. Raphael's dear life.

 _"Release the slave and slowly come forward!"_

"Shut up!

"Raph," Mikey pulled for his attention again when Raph had turned back ahead to stare at the approaching police. "You gotta promise me you won't forget what I'm gonna tell you, no matter what," he continued to say – rushed but clear, so he would understand.

Raphael watched him quietly and Mikey didn't know if his drugged brother even heard anything anymore, he looked lost and confused out of his mind. But there was no time. He had to act fast. The police were getting close. They had their weird guns raised again.

 _Again:_ "Raph," – there was a pause while Mikey mentally cursed himself, "no turtle left behind. Ever." He squeezed his big brother's hand before letting go of it and bolting away in the direction they had been running from, leaving Raphael standing behind completely startled by the act.

Michelangelo heard him cry out his name and it tore at his heart how sad and confused it sounded. But still he didn't look back, determined to do anything for him even if it meant leaving him for the moment. He was no Leonardo and definitely no Donatello, but Mikey had a plan. One that would either get them their brother back or make Raph hate him for the rest of his life for willingly abandoning him at the mercy of others. A risk Mikey was willing to take at that moment.

He heard Raph's footsteps behind him, picking up speed, trying to follow the quick little brother. Many footsteps followed and soon Mikey's ears picked up a thump and a frustrated cry. He only pushed his legs to run faster as he bolted into the cover of a space ship, avoiding the electric paralyzing bolts the police finally shot once the _slave_ was out of the way.

 _Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!_ Mikey didn't stay on the ground for long. He pushed himself onto a ship with the first chance he was given. One vehicle had its wings low, so he climbed it with swift ease and proceeded to jump onto the next from there just like jumping from building to building back at home. He was ducking out of sight of the police and there soon grew an almost comforting distance between them.

It didn't take Mikey long to reach the right ship, the one the alien had been taking Raphael into. It was low and sleek, almost like a fancy modern speedboat. Stealthy, in his best focused ninja mode, Mikey slipped from the larger ship he stood on onto the polished, dark brown vessel. Quickly he climbed to the ship's front, out of sight, and his eyes hurriedly started to scan for any slots or holes in hidden, or _fairly_ hidden, places.

He finally found a nice little groove between the ship's trunk and one of the four wings. He quickly pulled the orbital device from his duffel bag. It was a black fist-sized device. "You better be what I think you are." He wedged it into the slit, hitting it a few times to make sure it wouldn't come unstuck.

Now came the hard and tricky part he hoped he would somehow solve with his reoccurring luck when it came to alien technology. "How do I activate this thing?" There was a bunch of firm, blank buttons so he decided to just hit them at random. The first two he pressed did nothing but the third activated some kind of magnet, and the object adhered even more firmly to the ship's alloy. _Sweet! Keep it up, luck!_ The last button he pressed activated a sound almost like a computer turning on, and Mikey had to hope that was it.

Now to cover up his tracks and redirect his intentions elsewhere… _Gosh,_ if this wasn't the worst time in the history of worst times, Mikey would be gloating to everyone about his quick thinking and Leo-like improvising. But this truly was the worst, most terrible, horrible situation and it was the only reason why Mikey's brain was even breaking record in keeping attention and focus.

He ran over the ship's body to the back and, without hesitation, lunged himself over the edge directly at the unsuspecting, pink alien, who, to all Mikey's knowledge, had been the one who had bought his big brother as a slave and drugged him.

She had been just standing there by the entrance to her ship, impatiently waiting, with no care in the world, only irritated that Mikey's attempt at a rescue delayed her departure.

Mikey let out a loud, this time rage-filled, battle cry as both his feet connected with the large woman's chest. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!"

She crashed back onto the dry earth, her thick hair softening her fall.

Michelangelo found himself sitting on her flat chest, his plasma tonfas drawn, with her head between his legs. – A position that would have looked a lot more intimidating if the woman wasn't as large as she was.

Her scrunched eyes suddenly shot open with an icy, deadly glare behind their dead, murky appearance, and Mikey's widened as his blank brain started working again. The police had spotted him again and were coming closer.

 _Uh… What would Raph say in this situation?_

He lowered his gaze as threateningly as he could. "Who dares to think she can just take my brother from me," _uhh,_ "without getting shish-kebabed!" he threatened and brought the blades closer. _Not bad. Please let it work!_ Scary threats were not his thing.

The alien lowered her painted eyebrows in annoyance. Without a warning her tentacle hair sprung to life and pushed her up to sit, surprising Mikey as he clumsily rolled back over her stomach in his ungainly spacesuit and landed stomach-flat on her long thighs. "Ugh!"

Without waiting she grabbed his small wrists, each with a finger and thumb, and yanked them so forcefully Mikey dropped the weapons on his own.

"Aaaah!" he cried, momentarily thinking she had snapped his wrists.

She gathered his hands into one crushing hold then pulled herself to her feet, keeping a wiggling and kicking turtle to dangle from her grip fifteen feet in the air.

 _"Ic Falačis Majka if ju hef tu nou,"_ she finally spoke up, observing Michelangelo's pained face with a cold but unreadable expression.

Mikey realized she had broken the translation device around his hand, preventing him from understanding a single word. Although he recognized a word he had heard Raphael mention earlier…

 _Falla, Fallachis…? Was that her name?_

Two policemen had finally made it to their side and the woman straightened her posture, putting on a look of unmovable supremacy.

 _"Aj hauevr dount ker abaut douz hu der tu tink dej ken hrt mi or get in maj uej,"_ she concluded.

Michelangelo only stared at her, feeling her preeminence through the spacesuit as thick as tar, while she continued to keep the crushing grip on his hands and wrists.

She was scary…

She eventually handed him down to the two waiting policemen then turned around, already losing all care for the irrelevant kid. She rubbed her sore chest and shoulder as she casually walked away from them.

Mikey wasn't even struggling anymore. He stared after her with fear for his brother growing rapidly. What did she want him for…?

A tap on the glass of his helmet pulled his attention to the side.

He turned his head and found himself staring directly into a muzzle of a gun pressed against it.

He didn't even have a chance to react as everything went black with a bang.

Fallachis glanced back after hearing gunfire and saw the annoying alien lying motionless on the ground. She would have felt bad for the child if he wasn't so horribly violent.

One of the policemen picked his body up and flung him over his shoulder. He wasn't her problem anymore.

Falla's eyes scanned the landscape and fixated on another similar alien sandwiched between two more officers a good ura away. She quickened her pace when noticing panic in the green eyes, and closed the wide distance with just a few larger skips.

She immediately kneeled down closer to the boy's height and gently pried him from the clutches of the two policemen. "Calm down, El. Everything will be okay."

He cried "Mikey said they're gonna take me away again!" With a fracture of hesitation Raphael took cover in her arms. Eyes wide from fear and confusion searched for his missing little brother.

"Oh, they won't." Falla quickly redirected his gaze from the scene happening behind her and back to her face. She cupped his head to still and calm him. "I would never allow that."

Raphael half-heartedly tried to pull her fingers away. Mikey said she was bad. "He said you'll take me away, too."

"I'm taking you home."

"You are?"

"I am, of course. Where it's nice and cozy," she smiled reassuringly.

 _Home…_ He had been wanting to go home for months. Raphael's murky eyes eventually closed, his shoulders lowered in relief. She was still helping. Mikey was wrong about her.

"What about Mikey?"

"He ran off, didn't he?"

Raphael slowly nodded. He did. He saw it but something wasn't adding up. His brothers would never do that… Mikey showed up just to disappear again. "I don't understand…"

"I'm sorry he left you."

Raphael's chest hurt even more than it did before. …"You're not lying are you?"

"I never lie."

 **xXVXx**


	20. Blink

Chapter 20, woohoo!

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

If you've noticed this story getting blown up by reviews this week and next week probably, that's because I'm moving the comments of the commenters who agreed from DA over here, too. I want everything in one place and I realized there's a chance I may lose the comments over there because they're on some status posts that disappear if you don't have a direct link to them... Also on my bad days revisiting your comments is a good remedy for lifting up my mood - and I want easy access to my remedy! XD

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twenty**

 **Blink**

"You are leaving Singathef without purchasing anything?"

"Yes, we are…" Fugitoid sighed through his speakers.

"I am sorry to hear this. Would you still like to review our services and give us feedback of your experience? The survey is to your right," the young alien pointed to a small screen attached to a tall stand beside the counter.

The robot, despite his inexpressive face, managed to glance at the teenagers exasperatedly before facing the alien again.

"No, thank you."

While the android dealt with the cashier, the rest of the team quietly waited behind him. Each looked more miserable than the last, with dark circles forming under their dull eyes. Casey was practically sleepwalking and was only kept awake by the horrible seriousness of their situation; April was holding on and was trying to distract herself by intently observing Professor's every move; Leonardo uselessly stood behind them as if petrified, with shoulders slumped, and eyes searching but unseeing, his sleep deprived brain working at full speed but coming up empty; Donatello by his side stood just as pale and quiet with his curious eyes unusually still as his gaze lingered on a cardboard box clutched tightly to his chest.

It contained all of Raphael's gear including his mask and ripped wraps that were undoubtedly torn off of their brother at some point. Donnie hadn't let go of the box since the big alien from the basement had shoved him back through the "employees only" door with it and then kicked them all out of the "first class boutique".

Leonardo's gaze landed on the contents of the box for the hundredth time in the past half an hour. _They had stripped him of everything and sold him like an animal,_ he thought with a horrible desire to know what Raphael was feeling and going through at the moment.

"Very well then. Your cost is 0.5 uni-units."

Fugitoid's grumble as he handed the cashier his credit chip momentarily pulled Leonardo out of his depressing thoughts.

The turtle watched the cashier plug the chip into a small device. – _Even emptyhanded we have to feed the sick system with overpriced entrance fees,_ he thought with the ever-present indignation at the moon.

While Fugitoid was entering his code into a small device by the edge of the counter, an old alternative of a fingerprint scan – the cashier received a call over the employee telephone. She picked up the receiver the same second it rang.

 _"Syevodnyeshnyeh Beznravstvunost. Terminal Grekh. Checkout hall 25. Gate 186,"_ she listed the syllables without a pause between them.

The phone call lasted only a few seconds, enough for the cashier to return Fugitoid his credit card and receipt with her free hand. – "I have been informed that you must visit the detention department on the second floor before your leave."

"The detention department?" Professor's voice rose in surprise.

"Stairs and lifts are down the hall to the right. Please mind lifts' weight limits. – _Aaand_ here are your locker cards. Don't forget to empty your lockers before exiting the terminal."

Fugitoid dumbly nodded before hurrying down the hall tailed by four even more confused teenagers.

"What's going on, Professor?" April skipped closer to him.

The speakers through the large hall played a happy tune while occasionally announcing discounts on things that weren't in the line of moral. That and the noise of the crowd almost drowned Fugitoid's muttered reply.

"Nothing good, I believe."

"Maybe it's Raph," Casey pitched in, which finally sobered up the last two teens.

"To be quite honest," the professor began as they turned up a flight of oversized stairs – not bothering to wait for the elevator – and climbed them like ascending up a temple, "this is the only person we can expect to see there but I can't think of a scenario where Raphael would end up taken into detention. He's a slave."

April could see the boys' bristle at the last comment. "Let's stay hopeful."

"…Hopeful it has nothing serious to do with us," the robot added thinking about the seemingly deceitful larva in the store who had been very angered by Donatello sneaking into their basement.

The stairway led to a short hall on the second floor serving as a waiting room for the detention office. Leonardo didn't move to take the lead when the team stopped for a brief moment to look over the new destination – he trailed after the android like the rest of them over to the information desk.

A dirty yellow slug with a wide frog mouth sat behind the window loudly chewing a distastefully colored bubble gum. "Hwoow can ay hwelb yow?" she spluttered almost unintelligibly.

"Someone just called for us at the gates."

The slug looked down at the notebook spread open on the desk before her. "Zeidon Honeecud?"

"Zayton Honeycutt, yes."

"Pwees steb tow da door sree. – Da rewst pwees waid hweere."

The team exchanged confused and uneasy looks as the android reluctantly left them behind in the waiting room and walked off into a small hallway past the reception.

Casey was the first to take the chance to plop down on a couch in the middle of the hall. "This bites!"

"That's an understatement," April muttered.

The rest decided to stand and wait. Uncomfortable silence filled the lobby. The only noises heard were from muffled echoes of the annoying happy tune and bustle coming from the lower floor, and short "Noo-Noo" droids driving from office to office delivering different information and beeping loudly.

"Our next step must be retrieving information about the guy who took Raphael," Leonardo suddenly spoke up with a hushed voice. "And I have a hunch we'll only get it by hacking into their network."

"Without Fugitoid's help that's impossible, and we don't know if he's even capable of doing it," April hummed skeptically. They couldn't even read a single word in the language used, so Donatello's skills wouldn't be of much help. "What do you think, Donnie?"

The teenagers looked towards the tallest turtle who, to their surprise, wasn't paying attention to the conversation at all. He met their gaze with a completely lost look.

"Are you okay?" April asked with concern but her question was immediately silenced by a speaker screeching loudly above them.

 _*Hahmmahtoh Leeohnardow, Hahmmahtoh Dahnatehllow, Dzhoanz Kaysee and Ohneel Eiprill please step to office room number three immediately.*_

"That was fast!" Casey jumped back to his feet and they hurried past the chewing slug into the corridor Fugitoid had gone into. They were glad to see the offices had windows so they could actually find the correct door and enter.

Fugitoid sat in front of an emptied desk. He turned around towards them with his blank robotic face somehow clearly expressing shock.

"What is it, Fugitoid?" Leonardo immediately asked.

As if on cue, a purple broad-shouldered officer dressed in a white uniform, accompanied by a younger officer walked out of a back door with a folder of papers in his hand. "Ah, you're all here. I'll need to fill in the release forms and in the meantime you can all go visit your friend for a few minutes."

"Raph's here!"

"No," the professor stood up. "Michelangelo."

Before the team could even find their voices to stutter the next question, the purple alien laid the papers on his desk and provided the answer. "Hahmmahtoh Maikuhlehnjellow has been arrested for attempted theft. – Good news for you – he cannot be charged because he is still a minor. He will be released for a small fee after I work my way through all the papers. And while I do that…" he motioned with his arm back towards the door the young officer still held open.

The team followed the officer through it without another word.

Leonardo couldn't keep quiet and grumbled while they made their way through a long alloy corridor. "So Mikey is still considered a minor but he could already get legally forced into slavery… What is wrong with these people?" he whispered the last part so the escort wouldn't hear him.

"Actually no," Fugitoid denied while all eyes turned towards him. "The police officer had mentioned to me Michelangelo is only 10.43 percent. So luckily still 'ten or under'."

"Wait, then what's Raph's age?" April asked.

"Well…" Fugitoid pulled up the retrieving papers stored inside his forearm and looked them over once again. After a moment he continued. "…It says 10.54 percent."

"He's a minor, too!" the girl blurted in disbelief.

"No. That's rounded to eleven."

Casey looked at the robot with an angry glare. "Are you kiddin' me! Who rounds age?! You're one age and on your birthday next year you're the other!"

"This system has nothing to do with years or your tradition of birthdays."

"It's not fair! It's stupid."

"Please calm down. The 'stupid thing' are the laws here."

"At least we won't have any complications with getting Mikey back," April huffed miserably.

Leonardo however saw it differently. "This _is_ a complication! How on Earth did Mikey even end up here? _'Attempted theft'?_ He was supposed to be waiting in the ship!"

No one bothered to guess as they would hear the answer from the youngest in a minute. The officer had led them up to a cell door. She unlocked it and moved aside to let them walk in.

Leonardo had barely stepped inside when he saw his baby brother balled up in the corner jumping to his feet and attacking him with a crushing hug.

"Leo!" Michelangelo cried out.

"I was freaking out! They shot me in the head but I woke up and-and…! I didn't know what they were gonna do with me! I th-thought they were gonna take me away like they took Raph! I couldn't understand anything they're saying!-"

"Whoa, whoa! Mikey, calm down." Leonardo pulled his little brother away slightly to get a better look at him.

Michelangelo's blue eyes were wide and frightened like those of a small child. His reddened cheeks were covered in tear tracks and he had a runny nose from crying – both of which he couldn't wipe away with the helmet in the way.

"Did they do anything to you?"

"…No," he reluctantly shook his head. "I'm fine now that you're here. I just feel like I have the longest brain-freeze in the history of brain-freezes. – But the same can't be said about Raph-"

 _"Raph?"_ the whole group uttered in union.

"It's why I'm here – _I think,"_ Mikey fumbled with his fingers for a moment. "I was trying to rescue Raph from this big scary lady that was taking him on her ship but then she called the police on us. And we had almost made it to Fugitoid's ship!"

"H-How did you find Raphael?" Leonardo stuttered completely lost in the new information along with everyone else.

"Well… I wanted to pass time by playing around the ship," Mikey started sheepishly, "and then I noticed Raph on one of those floating car thingies that drove up and down the parking lot every few minutes. He and the alien stopped only a bit further from our ship so I ran after them."

"Is this why you were calling us?" April grabbed the sides of her helmet. She suddenly felt ten times worse for not answering. They had all assumed Michelangelo became worried and just wanted to ask about Raph. And since they were already on the way back empty-handed they wanted to deliver the bad news in person so he wouldn't be left alone with the horrible information.

"I didn't know what to do!"

"Mikey, tell me Raph was at least okay?" Leonardo desperately wanted to know how his immediate younger brother was taking everything. He wanted to hear Raphael was still holding on.

"He wasn't."

"He's hurt?"

"I don't think so…"

"What's that supposed to mean? He either is or isn't!" Leo unintentionally raised his voice. He just wanted to hear a straight answer.

"I don't know, Leo!" Mikey shouted back just as frustrated. "What do you want me to say? You want to hear that he was just peachy? Well he _wasn't!_ He was completely drugged and he didn't even know what was happening half the time!"

"Mikey, calm down," April took hold of the little brother's stiff shoulder.

"No!" Mikey swatted her hand away. "This is horrible! I've never ever seen Raph like that!" His eyes watered as he restrained himself from crying again. "You promised he would be okay!" he shouted at Leo. "What were you guys even doing!? You said you were going to bring him back and now he's gone!"

"No!" Leo cut him off with an equally loud but solemn shout before lowering his voice and continuing reassuringly. "We're going to get him back, Mikey. He _is_ going to be okay."

"What about _now?_ He's not okay now!"

 _…"No… he's not."_

"No. He really isn't, Leo! He probably hates me, too! I left him behind to get captured by the police so I could-"

"You _what?!"_

Mikey glared at his older brother for cutting him off, before continuing with an even and calmer pace. _"So I could_ run back to the alien's ship and attach one of Fugitoid's trackers to it. But I don't know if I turned it on at all."

Everyone shoulders seemed to ease in relief but tense that much more in anticipation. The robot's eyes had already gone blank with three orange dots as he immediately connected with his space craft.

"And the alien that has Raph, her name is Fallachis or something. But I don't know how much help tha-"

Mikey didn't get to finish as he got crushed into a tight hug by his oldest brother.

"I'm so sorry for shouting, Mikey," Leo said without easing the crushing embrace. "What would we do without you?"

"I connected with the Ulixes. Michelangelo successfully activated one of my tracking devices!"

"Go, Mikey!" cheered Casey and shook the robot's shoulder next to him.

Everyone couldn't help themselves but smile a little. They felt like they were making progress again after things had come to a dead end, all thanks to the youngest brother's improvised action and the luck that brought Raph to him. Michelangelo had done what he could. And even though Raph was still missing Mikey had created a new lead for them to follow.

"The tracker's away from the moon and planet already. However, it's still close, so we would have no problem catching up to it. And if they hyperjump, my trackers' signal can reach Ulixes in a few hours, even if solar systems away."

"This is great!" April grinned.

Fugitoid nodded. – "My only concern is that the location strangely isn't changing at all."

"Don't tell me the thing fell off…"

"It didn't, otherwise it would have sent a warning. Maybe there's a rest stop there? I don't understand why they would turn off the engines so close to the moon."

No one else thought anything about it and shrugged the information off. If they weren't moving, that could only be an advantage for them – finally!

Fugitoid, however, looked a lot less pleased. Space crafts only stopped travel in space where there was no common traffic to cause obstruction and under zero chance of getting pulled by a nearby gravity source.

While the teenagers continued to ask Michelangelo questions the android excused himself and walked out of the cell. His mind was quickly distracted by the young officer who still stood by the door and undoubtedly heard everything.

"What you plan on doing doesn't concern us," she reassured.

The robot nodded before walking a few steps down the corridor to get some space.

 _"An oil stop maybe? – But no. Niktikleptis is full of those at the cheapest price…"_

Donatello came after him. "Professor, something's not right, isn't it?"

The Fugitoid met the boy's gaze but dropped the answer when he heard a droid driving down the corridor past Mikey's cell.

"Excuse me," he quickly stole its attention.

The robot beeped as it stopped to turn its focus to the android.

"What is located at," the professor rescanned the tracker's data stored in his mind, "384.400 fields from 46.486244, 13.839780?"

 _"Connecting- connecting-connecting-searching-searching-sear"- *Blup blup!*_ The robot hummed up. _"Location 384.400 fields from 46.486240, 13.839770 on Niktikleptis Moon and its one bile radius is reserved for an interstellar teletransport ferry, BLINK. – Price: 46 uni-units; Takeoff: in 27 valyutes."_

The Fugitoid would have paled up if he wasn't a robot and already entirely white. "What is the destination?!"

 _"Destination: 462.320 fields from 43.8710840, -93.3015220 on Planet Kreda, Solar System Dragul, System Rudnick, Galaxy Bogoo Zah Herb-Tom."_

"This is not good…"

"What? What did you find out, Professor?" Donatello piped up, unsure if he was following the conversation – hoping he misunderstood.

"And when is the next takeoff?"

 _*Blirp blurp!* "Next takeoff in 5777 valyutes."_

 **xXVXx**

 _"Oh no!"_

Thank you for following this tale so far! We have come to the end of the first part of this story! - I would call it 'the begining' but I don't want to make you think that we've just started. We have passed the middle a few chapters back already. We are however going to be entering a different part of the story next week. We've reached the start of my primary idea for this book. Everything so far was just a very long way to get to where I wanted to be to explore my strange ideas and OCs. :P

I'd like to give a great big thank you to my beta, _CelandineGranger_ for helping me with the grammar, typos and overall plot, and for helping make this story as enjoyable as I now believe it is! You rock, bestie!

A huge thank you also goes to my biggest fan- I'm kidding, but definitely someone who has shown a huge amount of support by leaving awesome long reviews for each chapter! Thank you, _Indiana Rose!_

And of course I want to give a big thank you to my other faithful reviewers so far! I won't mention you by name because I have a awful tendency to forget someone and then feeling bad. I'm sure you're all aware that I appreciate everyone who finds the time to leave some thoughts on this story. :)

Should I wait two weeks this time to post the next chapter? You probably don't agree with that, huh? - So I'll still see you next week like always, and I hope you all stick to read the end, too! :D


	21. Haunted Mansion

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Welcome to 'the middle' of this fic! This part of the book will be heavily focusing on my OCs, too, and I hope they'll grow on you. Don't be discouraged if you don't like OCs (we've gone through many already), and judge this story for yourself and not from my little notes.

Let me know what you think though! I'm kinda self-conscious now that I'm starting to post this part of the fic...

 **Chapter Twenty-One**

 **Haunted Mansion**

Raphael hugged the pillow he felt underneath him while a light smile of comfort shaped his lips. A cozy bed felt like heaven at the moment as he drifted between sleep and wakefulness. He nuzzled his cheek deeper into the soft and warm fabric.

The mild flowery aroma that crept into his nostrils quickly ended his lazy lying-around. The pillow didn't smell right. _Was he sleeping in April's room?_

His eyes fluttered open while a confused frown crept onto his relaxed features.

He couldn't recognize the dim room from his position and he quickly shot up in alert, all sleepiness abandoned. The bedding slipped from his frame and unwelcome cold air ran up his skin and took all the warmness with it.

His vision had blackened for a moment after his sudden movement and he recognized he wasn't feeling as well as he had thought seconds ago. He felt heavy as if something was dragging the strength out of him.

 _Where…?_

The cold gloomy room the boy found himself in was large – resized to fit a giant. Despite the odd size, the room didn't strike him as particularly strange or alien, yet something still felt off about it…

The last daylight shone through a window on his left and brought a cold bluish light into the place.

The walls were light with decorative floral reliefs and painted patterns all over the ceiling, door, and window frames. Along with the neatly carved wooden furniture, the ostentatious interior was decorated entirely in something reminiscent of Earth's organic style of Art Nouveau.

Raphael swallowed down the morning spit that formed in his mouth as a worried feeling settled into him. He couldn't remember how he ended up in the room. Bits and pieces of other _less pretty_ events slowly started returning to him like dripping water. – Strange unfamiliar settings; odd alien faces; big, tall bodies looking down on him, dragging him from one place to the next.

Raphael's breath hitched lightly when he finally remembered enough to paint all the mute pictures with emotions and uttered words – threats, intimidation, fear. So much fear, it hardened his heartbeat into almost audible thumps even now as he sat still.

 _No… …A horrible nightmare – it must have been._ Raphael's eyes, this time wider, took in his new surroundings again. He was sitting at the edge of a giant bed. It was wider than it was long as if it would fit several giant people. – A pale rosy face invaded his thoughts. For a second it was reassuring before reason returned and his skin crawled.

 _Falla…_ The room, the furniture – it was all fit for her enormous size. He was in her home. And Raph had believed she was taking him home. To _his_ home!

The boy touched the sides of his face, suddenly feeling stupid on top of freaked out. How could he have believed that? That was humiliating!

He was lost somewhere in the universe, lightyears from the rest of his brothers and probably even farther from home…

After a few deep inhales to try and calm himself down, his distracted eyes finally caught sight of something warm and bright flickering in the corner of his vision. He turned to stare at a candle flame burning on the night stand beside him and bringing warm color into the gloomy room. Another memory crept back into him while his hands lowered. Before he knew it, he had instinctively pulled his legs forward and kicked the item to the floor with the tip of his toes, where it rolled across the parquet and bumped into the wall under the tall window. The flame died but a streak of smoke lifted into the air from the tip like a creepy poisonous gas.

 _Time to leave!_ Raphael scrambled to his feet and stumbled over the bed to the door which was thankfully nowhere close to the candlestick.

As he jumped from the bouncy mattress to the solid floor, his legs were caught by surprise from an unexpected weight that made him crash onto all fours.

"Ugh!"

 _Another drug…_ he thought bitterly and fearfully.

He rubbed his bare, lightly-skinned knee and lifted himself up, while paying attention to his weaker muscles. Just standing was taking more strain from his legs than he would like…

The door in front of him had two handles: One at a height normal for a door of that size, which he couldn't reach no matter how hard he'd try to jump; and a smaller one that was lower on the door, which he would think was there especially for him if it wasn't a bit too high, too.

 _Weird…_

He stretched to reach the smaller metal handle and slowly creaked open the large wooden door which felt like pulling open a castle gate.

The place he stepped into was an immense open hall even chichier than the bedroom. The middle was occupied by a colorful round carpet and two sofas with a coffee table, all softened by the dusk's cold gloom. The Evette Settees were covered with needlework of flowers and birds intertwined into a twisted pattern. On the left side of Raph there was a wooden staircase leading downstairs somewhere even darker – and on the other side stood a wide semicircular window with stained glass throwing a fading colorful glow over the parquet floor. The wall opposite Raph was painted with light frescoes depicting scenes of flora and fauna that he found bizarrely like Earth's.

 _"Uhh…"_

Tearing his eyes from the painted "fox" stalking "ducklings" behind tall cattails that made Raphael's skin crawl from a reason unknown to him, he slowly walked over to the window to see where he even was.

He could barely see over the "low" window-still standing on his toes – which proved unnecessarily troublesome with his drugged body. And as he expected, he couldn't see more than unclear dark smudges through the colored glass. Whatever was outside was already wrapped in the oncoming nighttime. He had no wish to return to the bedroom window where the candle was to get a better look.

He carefully checked all the other doors in the hall. All were locked except for one. At first Raph thought the completely unlit room was some kind of techy, alien, radio, control room which the turtle became too excited about even though he would never know how to help himself with it. – That was until a more thorough inspection revealed he was standing in a polished oversized bathroom!

Unnerved, he stormed out of it – although still not making any sounds. If anyone was in the house, he didn't want them to know he was up and about.

He moved to the oversized stairs opposite the golden window and cautiously proceeded into the darkness. Fright immediately retook control as he carefully descended to the silent lower level. He felt like a five-year-old afraid of walking into the basement – the only difference was there really was a monster Raphael was trying to stay hidden from…

 _I need to find a way out of this place…_

There was barely any light at the bottom of the curved staircase which led to another opened hall made into a cozy study room with its only light source coming from a partly curtained-off picture window. It was in the intersection of two pitch black hallways. Something about the style of the room and the dusk throwing shadows everywhere made it feel eerie and haunted.

Raphael was slowly getting used to his almost painful jumps down the oversized steps when he finally neared the last step. The wood under his feet creaked and groaned. The noise was immediately followed by movement right beside him.

The turtle managed not to shout, but he fell down the last big step with a heavy thump. He was ready to scramble to his feet and make a run for it when he realized what scared him was his own reflection in a tall mirror attached to the wall by the end of the staircase.

He composed himself and stood up. "I'm not this scared," he argued, but quickly shied from his anxious, frightened eyes staring back at him.

Instead he occupied himself by focusing on a collar he noticed gleaming around his neck under the last bit of daylight. It wasn't the one he had had strapped on him before. This one was thick and metal but curved and designed in the same swirly tacky way as the whole house. Raph looked like he had a fancy lace necklace strapped around his neck and he hated it. It looked wrong and out of place no matter how long he stared at it.

He touched it and found it completely stuck to his skin. Being aware of what its functionality undoubtedly was, he didn't bother in trying to get rid of it.

Although he didn't use his gear to cover up Raphael still couldn't help but feel horribly naked standing there without anything but what he could only describe as a "dog collar".

A shiver ran up his back and he was reminded just how cold the whole house was…

Still stepping over his broken memories, his eyes wandered lower to his shoulder. There was supposed to be a code there… The stinging pain when receiving it had left that memory clear. Raph could recall the old feathered alien telling him something about it disappearing in a day after checkout. And he now knew what she meant by "checkout". However it was the other information that lingered on his mind – "disappear after a day".

He couldn't remember when or how he had fallen asleep or was knocked out. And he had no clue how long he had slept. It could have been even more than just a single day. The thought of him being unconscious for so long was unnerving… He already knew that Fallachis Maika drugged him. What else she had done with him in the meantime, he could only guess.

 _Where were his brothers all this time…?_

Raphael shuddered again.

He quickly paced across the room, away from the haunting mirror and towards the uncovered part of the tall window to finally inspect where he even was. He would need to figure out his surroundings if he wanted to find a way out of here or a way to contact the team.

He didn't want to think about how he would even go about doing something like that…

Completely lost in his frightened turmoil and the idea he was developing around Fallachis, Raph didn't expect to see nothing out the window but Earth-like forest and mountains spreading over the whole landscape under a starry, darkening sky.

His eyes widened as his already improbable ideas of escape began to crumble.

The trees were swaying in the dark like a never-ending, heavy sea. The ruthless wind was producing a howling sound that finally reached Raphael's ears.

Where was the futuristic advanced city and contained nature he pictured Fallachis living in!? Where were the bright streets and flying cars!? Was he seriously trapped in the middle of nowhere in a creepy early 20th century mansion!?

"This is fine," he whispered. "I'll figure something out."

He escaped from the window as if it were suddenly dangerous and pushed through the closest door, not even bothering to make sure he wouldn't walk in on the giant woman.

He stumbled into a fence of a balcony of what appeared to be an old wooden library extending below and above him.

 _How big is this house!?_

The circular room was draped in moonlight seeping from a glass dome above. The boy noticed another identical balcony above him stacked with what seemed like mostly scrolls and folders while the rest of the library was filled with countless books.

He couldn't understand how a room so tall and wide could feel so claustrophobic. He had a feeling that the tall bookshelves were going to tip over at any moment and bury him under their weight.

He hurried around the balcony towards a spiral staircase that led to the first floor of the library, and then walked towards the only door in the room below.

Raphael noticed yellow light seeping through the crack of the door just in time and stopped.

He stood as if petrified for a moment before regaining courage to simply breathe. It was obvious the house wasn't abandoned, although he had hoped he was alone in it.

He carefully stepped closer and moved down on all fours to see if he could get a look through the gap under the door. It was bigger than usual, along with everything else in the house, but it wasn't wide enough to give him any sense of what was happening on the other side aside from the lights being turned on.

Well, that way was a big "no". He would need to find a different way out.

Raph wavered by the door for another moment before silently making his way back onto the balcony and returning into the study room.

He silently closed the door behind himself and made three semi-confident steps before the room suddenly lit up.

He froze.

Standing just outside a hallway opposite him was Fallachis Maika, with her hand still on a light switch, appearing equally surprised by his presence.

"You're up!"

Raphael's heartbeat immediately began to thump against his plastron. His limbs moved to try and follow its speed and turned him around. He was ready to run back through the library.

"The library doors are locked," he heard Fallachis inform in an unsettlingly calm tone, just as he reached the lower door handle. He pulled it down only to find the door just as she had spoken – locked.

 _How?!_

He immediately turned around. His shell hit the door while he tried to make more room between himself and the alien that now towered over him.

He couldn't understand why he grew so afraid of her. He had fought bigger and scarier things before…

"I thought I heard someone upstairs. Did you sleep well?"

Fallachis smiled and stood there confidently.

The boy couldn't stutter a single word – not an answer, nor a threat, or a pathetic "back off". He was completely frozen, having no idea how to turn the situation when he had no clue of the current direction it was taking.

"Well," Falla began, seeing he wouldn't answer, "if you want to explore the house, we can do so after we prepare you something for under your tooth.

 _"…Err…_ to eat!" she smiled and leaned down to grab his stiff arm.

"Don't touch me!" Raphael pushed back from the touch with his whole body but it made no difference as Fallachis easily pulled him around and forced him to start walking in front of her back down the hallway she came through.

Raphael struggled to get his wrist free and lastly resorted to pulling his legs up and hanging himself from her grip.

"I know it's a lot to take in at once but there's no need to be so stubborn and rude! Come on, walk!"

"No!"

Falla frowned at the response but didn't allow it to get under her skin so easily. "Fine. If you want to act like such a baby"- She hoisted the boy up and pressed him against her chest like holding a toddler then proceeded down the stairs at the end of the hall.

Raphael needed a moment to understand the position he was in before heat rushed to his face and he screamed.

 _"Put me down!"_ His arms were stuck by his sides and his legs tucked against Falla's stomach while her other arm held them there.

"You just made it clear you don't want to walk," Falla said matter-of-factly, if not slightly amused.

"I don't!"

 _"Well?"_

Raphael was fuming while desperately squirming to get away. _"Stop! I'm going to…!_ If you don't let go of me right now, I'm gonna- _…do_ something to you!"

"Wow!" Fallachis gasped light-heartedly. She placed the boy on a sofa in the wide foyer they arrived in and sat down in front of him. "It's a good thing we're here because I really got scared there for a breeze," she smiled.

Raphael sent a dark look her way. He moved to leave but the alien easily pushed his shell back into the back pillows with her large hand. – Repeatedly, when he continued to try.

"Stop it!" he finally barked after his fifth attempt at getting up.

His constant hateful shouting and resistance were slowly wearing on Fallachis.

"Okay, El, you need to calm down a bit now. You're safe here."

"Let me leave…!" The turtle didn't care if he was repeating himself when the woman obviously ignored it anyway.

"You're being unreasonable, El."

"It's _Raph!_ It's Raph, it's always been Raph!"

Falla stared at him, clearly displeased by his reoccurring childish tantrum, but patiently waited through it.

Her concentrated, unchanged stare irked Raphael. "Say it! Say _Raph!"_

"Raph," she complied without hesitation.

The disinterested reaction only angered the turtle more. She was intentionally overlooking the point! "Now call me that from now on!"

"I won't."

…

Raphael had very slowly, unwillingly come to accept that arguing over small things like his nickname was a waste of energy. Arguing with the woman was a waste of energy in general. She wasn't fazed by anything he said to her and he was the only one feeling worse from it.

He brought his legs up and crossed his arms over them, to have at least some mental sense of a barrier between the giant and himself, while still warily observing her.

Falla was wearing a soft green sweater over her plain white and blue leotard which Raphael remembered she had worn at the market, too – which he just realized, to his horror, was in matching colors with his new collar… Her sprouts were pulled into a strange braided, woven hairdo and her eyebrows were painted differently than before.

She was watching him with a kind smile and relaxed posture, leaning into the backrest with one arm that was propping up her head, and with one foot lazily dangling over her other leg.

"Do you have any ideas for supper? Probably something light since it's late. Although you must be pretty hungry after sleeping for so long."

"What do you want from me…?"

"Nothing. I just want to take care of you. But you can't expect that from me if you don't even give me a chance. I know you're coming from a bad place but you need to try and trust me, okay?"

The tone she was using reminded Raphael of his own when he talked to his pet turtle. It was having the very reverse effect on him from what the woman wanted. His skin was crawling and he felt the cold air that much more again. She was making him feel even more frightened.

"You can't keep me here forever," he contradicted spitefully.

"I can't," Falla agreed to his surprise, "but where are you going to go?"

 **xXVXx**


	22. Table Manners

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

My story was nominated thanks to you guys! :D It's in the Most Addictive Multi-Chapter, Most In-Character Raphael and Most Exciting Action/Adventure categories! Yoopee! I was hoping it would get into the Best OC and Best Horror categories but it didn't. Falla did however get into the Most Intriguing Villain category which I am super excited for! :D I think I have a good chance in that category. :)

Go check out the other stories that have been nominated (there's many good ones) and happy reading. Voting will start in about a month I believe.

Site: ht"tps:"/our-secret-lair."com/readers-choice-awards/

Now onto the new chapter! This one of the oldest and one of my favorite chapters because I just love Falla and I think her nature and motives come across nicely here!

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twenty-Two**

 **Table Manners**

Raph sat at the dining table with an untouched bowl of weird gray food Fallachis had prepared for them. Across from him sat the giant woman. She was pressing her lips against her intertwined fingers and resting her elbows on the wooden table. She had finished her food minutes ago and her gaze was now fixated on him, her murky blue eyes intently observing Raph's every move.

Raph felt uncomfortable. He wanted to leave – had wanted to from the moment he woke up in the house. Even more so when she sat him behind the table on a booster seat like a toddler and threw his dignity through the window.

Raph had assumed that after she finished eating dinner, she would just take him somewhere else, do whatever she had said they were going to do. But she was just sitting there, silently observing him like some overlord.

Raph shifted in his chair and rubbed his arm. It was still so cold in the house. Only the kitchen had been bearable.

 _"Can…_ Can I go?" he eventually asked after a few more minutes, hating himself in the process. He shouldn't need to ask the alien for permission for anything. But Fallachis had dropped her completely friendly act when Raphael's protests hadn't ceased the slightest and she no longer had the patience to wait through something that Raph had no intention of stopping anytime soon. And Raphael had learned just how easily she could handle him if he didn't comply first.

 _"May I be excused from the table."_

Raph stared at her. "What?" He needed a moment to understand what she expected from him.

 _"Excuse me."_

Raph's mouth closed and he clenched his jaw. Heat rushed to his face. _She can't be serious?_ But her unchanged expectant expression told him she was very much that. He looked away, his cheeks darkening just from the thought of obliging.

Eventually he grumbled through gritted teeth. " _May I be excused from the table?_ "

He hated this! He hated this so much!

"Not until you finish your food," the woman responded, her posture unmoving but her eyes glinting, waiting to see the boy's reaction.

Raph looked back up at her fixated eyes, his own wide in surprise for a moment before lowering. He skimmed the gross food in front of him, determined not to eat – not even touch – any of it despite the fact he was starving. He glared at Fallachis, all the new hatred he suddenly had for her centered in his scowl.

He suddenly stood up on his chair, still deliberately staring at her with a spiteful and challenging demeanor, waiting for her to make a move and stop him.

Falla only continued to watch him in silence, only her eyes lowered in annoyance and her light smile completely vanished.

After a moment of hesitation, Raphael jumped off the large five-foot-tall chair and caught his stance in the last second. Unwilling to show he was still feeling weak, he stomped towards the arched doorway. He didn't want to spend another second in that baby seat with her anywhere near him, let alone teaching him table manners like he was a little kid!

He almost made it to the doorway when he felt a slight twinge on the back of his neck, right under his collar. In the same moment, his legs gave out from under him and he fell. He tried to catch himself with his arms but ended up smacking onto the floor like a plank.

 _"Umpf!"_

He blinked open his scrunched eyes. His snout and cheek stung from the impact. _What just happened?_ Raph moved to get up – _tried –_ but nothing happened… None of his limbs responded at all.

He wasn't in pain. He was feeling fine. He felt everything! Why couldn't he move at all?!

Confusion and panic wrapped around his paralyzed body.

"What's going on?!"

Suddenly he felt arms under him. He didn't even hear Fallachis walk over. Her paws were completely silent against the wooden floor.

"Look what you made me do."

She lifted him with one long arm wrapped around his torso and under his armpits and one going under his hanging legs, and easily carried him to the table where she sat him into his chair again. She leaned him into the backrest and made sure his limp body wouldn't fall to the side before she returned to her own chair, too, reclaiming her previous posture. She was staring at him with risen eyebrows giving the impression Raphael should have seen it coming.

Raph stared back with panicked eyes and his head hanging to the side. He kept tightening his muscles but there was just no response from them. He bent his knees, squeezed his hands into fists. – _Nothing._ He couldn't move anything below the collar around his neck! _What's happening!?_

Unexpectedly, without a warning, all the control came back and Raph's whole, suddenly tense body jolted. His legs jumped and his knees hit the table from below, rattling the full bowl on it – which, besides Raph's frantic breathing, was the only sound now present in the long dining room.

He stiffened up for a moment, his wide, scared eyes not daring to leave Fallachis' silent posture. _What is she doing?_

He slowly stretched his legs, bent his wrists under the table, making sure all the control was back.

 _Everything feels normal… But everything felt normal then, too…_

He noticed Fallachis casually placing a small remote onto the table beside her bowl before sending a sharp look his way. A cold feeling of uneasiness settled into Raphael's hollow stomach as he wondered just what else she had up her sleeve.

"I hope you-"

Heedless and as impulsive as he was, he shot from his chair once more, the doorway his only target. His legs only took four steps before he crashed down onto his stomach, the control of his body completely disconnected from him again.

He let out a grunt, desperately struggling to move while his body remained entirely slack, the only motion coming from his breathing and rising torso.

"You're so stubborn!"

Fallachis did the same thing as before – she picked Raphael from the floor, placed him back into his chair like a doll, and sat back down across from him. She continued to say nothing.

Raphael, stubborn and suddenly desperate to get away, only pointlessly made for the door again – this time collapsing immediately after landing on the floor from the chair. _"Agh!_

"Stop it!" he barked, biting back the pain from the harder fall, as Fallachis slowly walked around the table for the third time.

"You stop it!"

The alien grabbed his shoulders with less care this time and pulled him back into his chair. Her expression was clearly annoyed as she shoved his shoulders against the backrest with more force than needed, warning him to stay put.

Raph swallowed back any comment he had before she let go of him slowly. She took her place across from him and observed him with a disappointed and displeased look.

"You need to learn to listen…"

He didn't make a dash for the door the fourth time, knowing he had more chance of getting away if he were chained to the chair. His confused eyes danced over the alien's features and posture, trying to figure out what she wanted to prove with this.

 _She's insane…_

They both sat in silence for a minute. Raph uncomfortably moved under her gaze every few seconds. He couldn't take it anymore and eventually asked, "What do you want from me?" Did she expect him to just sit in chairs all day?

"You're not allowed to leave this table until you eat all your food. Don't play stupid," she said coldly, laying her forearms on the table.

Raphael's eyes fell down on the forgotten bowl still in front of him. His snout wrinkled at the weird looking food despite his terrible hunger. He frowned at Fallachis as his cheeks burned in humiliation.

 _I won't eat that no matter what!_ She couldn't make him. She was delusional for treating him that way. He wasn't a stupid little kid!

 **xXVXx**


	23. Astrography

Have you ever heard of Astrography?

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Okay I want to share this with you: I kept forgetting how big Falla really is (so you might be too) so i did a calculation for myself. 2012 Raphael is officially 5'0" (152 cm) tall and Falla is about 20 feet (610 cm) (four times taller). And if you wanna look at it from a different perspective... If Falla was the size of an average human (170 cm, 5'7") then Raph would be 42 cm or 1'5" tall. That's smaller than the lenght of a newborn, lmao!

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twenty-Three**

 **Astrography**

"Let me go!" Raphael cried through gritted teeth, while desperately trying to pry Fallachis' fingers from clutching his head. He was roughly pulled along through a corridor. His staggering feet were sliding on the polished parquet floor, while he was trying to squirm out of her stone grip, ignoring the pain in his strained neck.

The tall alien was furious. She had calmly endured almost an hour of Raphael's childish stubbornness in the dining room. When the boy had hurled the full bowl through the air and started screaming at her how much he hated her, that was when she had completely lost her patience with him.

Fallachis Maika didn't tolerate children behaving so horribly, especially calling her such terrible names on top of it. She had immediately pulled Raphael out of his seat, determined the boy needed a fair punishment.

"Stop!" Raph struggled in the hold. His fingers were still unsuccessfully pulling off Fallachis' stronger ones.

"I will not stand such awful behavior in my own house!" Fallachis tugged her arm forward, yanking Raph with it and making him stumble a few feet forward before grabbing his shell and lifting him from the floor.

 _"Ahh!-_ Let! Go! – You're a monster! _Psycho!_ _"_

"Enough!" the alien shouted over his cries.

She walked back to the third floor with Raph kicking and punching through the air, and reached the door of the bedroom the turtle had woken up in. She pushed it open, flinging Raphael inside, before closing it behind her.

"You have to start behaving, El! All actions have consequences," she warned sharply.

Raphael collected his stance while looking to the side trying to blink back his furious tears. He hated her so much! He wasn't a little kid and she _wasn't his mother!_

He eventually looked up only to see the alien had already found the discarded candle on the floor and was now lighting it back up on the night stand. She didn't even bat an eye in his direction when she spoke up clearly, "The bedroom door is locked! – So don't even think about it."

Raphael, however, was already standing on his toes with his hand on the lower handle. "The bedroom door is _not_ locked!" He jiggled it but it didn't budge.

He gritted his teeth. "The bedroom door is _unlocked!" – Nothing._ "Gah!"

"Once you realize you can't just do anything you want it'll be much easier for both of us." Fallachis grabbed his small arm again and dragged him along. "So I propose you start behaving. I don't like relying on those dirty resources to keep you from misbehaving."

"Like that candle you just lit?" Raphael barked back spitefully without ceasing to pull away.

"That's just something to calm you down since you obviously aren't capable of it yourself!"

"So like that drug you used on me when I was _calmly_ sleeping!?" he shouted furiously before he was completely jolted when Falla dropped him on the bed. "What are you doing?" he immediately faltered as fear took hold of him tighter.

"What are you talking about?" The woman casually sat down beside him. "I didn't do anything of sorts."

Raphael watched her movement and body language with uncertainty. He was prepared to bolt at a single red flag. – "Yeah?" he mumbled before finding his growing hatred again and hissing spitefully. "Then why am I feeling heavy …and weak?" _…And why doesn't my resistance make even the smallest difference…?_

"That obviously has something to do with the greater gravity," Falla easily explained. "The other reason is because you're tiny and frail."

"Frail!?"

"Don't worry. That's why I'm here," she smiled and patted the top of his head.

"Now go to bed! You didn't think I'd forget why we came here." She pulled a stuffed toy from beside the pillows and pressed it into the boy's lap.

Raphael stared at her like she was insane. "I'm what?"

"Early bedtime so you can sleep over you bad behavior. Come on." She pulled the bedding from under him to cover him with it.

Raphael kicked it back and flung the toy at the floor. "I'm not going to sleep!"

"If you think I'm going to read you a bedtime story, you're very mistaken. You don't deserve it."

"I DON'T WANT A BEDTIME STORY!"

"Good!"

Raphael almost steamed obstinacy and fury as he sat on the bed with his arms crossed, having no intention to lay down _or_ stand up, challenging Fallachis to use more force and just prove herself evil.

"Time is something I have plenty of," the woman assured after a moment of his complete pigheadedness.

"Whatever," Raphael grumbled trying to hide just how much her comment irked him. She was so obnoxiously collected, patient and persistent.

The candle's aroma finally reached his nose and reminded him that his resolve wouldn't last long anyway.

He stretched to push it off the night stand when Falla grabbed his forearm. He tried blowing it out but she pushed him back to his place with one arm before he had the chance.

"It's good for you."

"No," Raph cried, "it's good for _you!_ You think that if you keep me stupefied and smiling like an idiot, you could finally enjoy your delusional fairytale!"

He could see his words hit close. The woman withdrew her hand and straightened up. Her expression was obviously upset and Raph leeched onto that.

"This is _not_ my home! And I'm _not_ your dog-child. – Whatever you think this is it's _not!_ If you seriously think I'm just going to just live here with you, you're insane!

"When my brothers find me, we'll kick some sense into you together if I can't do it myself-"

"What brothers?" Fallachis cut off Raphael with an icy glare.

Raph was startled by the sharp tone of her question. "My brothers," he repeated partly unsure.

 _"Mmhmm…"_ Fallachis nodded in indiscreet annoyance, making it seem like she finally concluded that Raphael was a big obvious liar on top of a troublemaking runt.

The boy lost his will to talk again and cautiously observed the alien lift herself up to her twenty-foot height that still frightened him, and walk up to a book case to pick up the single book waiting at the very top beside a long potted ivy. She didn't say anything and her intentions were lost on Raph. She did give off the impression he wouldn't want to overhear what she was going to tell.

Fallachis crawled onto the bed next to him with the thick black book and leaned into the pillows behind her. Before Raph could scamper away from her she grabbed him and pulled him to her side. She wrapped her arm around the turtle and kept him trapped under it.

Raphael squirmed, growled – tried to get himself free of the one-armed hug and only managed to kick around and wrinkle the blanket and pillows while Falla casually placed the book onto her lap then directed a sidelong glance his way.

"Are you done?"

She couldn't treat him that way! He was a ninja, a warrior, practically grown up! But if anything, his defiance was just a small nuisance to her.

"I said I don't want a bedtime story! Let me go!" Raph could no longer hide the desperation in his voice. Nothing about this game was ever fun! He wasn't her toddler!

"I know. But you do need a little lesson in astrography. You'll need it sooner or later."

He knew he had no choice in the matter. Raph eventually sagged under the heavy arm and leaned against the woman's chest. Guilt and dread were piling inside him but he just needed to catch his breath. He was already feeling tired after a couple of hours of being awake.

The candle scent was still bothering him and he knew it must have started to take effect on him. The alien didn't seem concerned about it working on her however...

Raphael was fully taking in the misery of his current situation. Nothing he could do made a difference – at least not a good one. She wouldn't stop treating him like a little boy and he found that more unsettling and terrifying by the minute than embarrassing and annoying.

He observed Fallachis beginning to flip through the pages of the big book. Each page started to flicker with a sort of projection he could not wrap his mind around before it was turned around and the three dimensional pictures of planets and atmospheres were clasped shut and replaced with more of such. His eyes began to hurt from the flashing lights before the alien finally stopped on a spread in the middle of the book with nothing but black printed on it.

Nothing happened for a while before the boy realized their surroundings began to blacken as if the lights in the room dimmed. He looked up at a ceiling light and suddenly the room was bright again. When he redirected his gaze back in the direction of the book all he could see was pitch blackness all around himself and Falla who both still looked as bright as before.

 _"Wh-"_

"Here, El," Falla pointed to a single bright dot in the nothingness.

It began to grow until it appeared like a glowing cloud of dust.

"This is a map of our only known universe, simply called the Universe," Fallachis Maika began her explanation. "Each little dot you can notice and most that you can't represent a galaxy. There's about 300 sextillion galaxies in the Universe.

"Do you know how many zeros there are in a sextillion, El?"

"Uh… six times three?"

"Close. Twenty-one."

She lifted her arm from Raph and smiled when he didn't immediately move away from her, appearing completely lost in the illusion of the universe before their eyes. He pulled his legs closer and hugged them while keeping his eyes fixated on the glowing dust.

Falla used both hands to pull at it and make it scale and submerge both of them in it. She began to search through it like going through folders in a drawer but more with the odds of finding a needle in a haystack. _"It's somewhere…"_ she slowed down at a cluster of shiny dots, "here!" and zoomed into a tiny one Raph didn't even see before it grew to the size of a ping pong ball and took the familiar swirly shape. It became the only galaxy visible to them.

Falla smugly held the glowing swirl in front of Raph by the tip of her finger. "This is our galaxy, named the Bogoo Zah Herb-Tom Galaxy. It has around 400 billion stars. – Do you know-"

"I know how much a billion is!" Raph snapped.

Falla grinned amusingly, _"And?"_

"Nine zeros."

"Look at you. You do know something."

Raphael only offered her a contrasting unamused glare.

The woman straightened her posture and turned back to the galaxy which she pulled apart, too, until they were both surrounded by countless stars.

"About 80 billion of these stars are solar systems with their own planets orbiting them. And about half of those have at least one inhabitable planet. – So 1600 million inhabitable solar systems in one galaxy."

It took her less time to dig out the right tight cluster of stars and zoom in on them this time. "The Rudnick System." She zoomed in further and isolated a single star from the rest. "And our Srebro Solar System."

She turned towards Raphael with the large sun held between her fingers. She had to scale it to the size of a soccer ball before any of them could see the tiny planets orbiting it.

"And here she is," she pointed to a faint dot between them and above the glowing star.

Raphael watched it in anticipation still completely overwhelmed by the detailed projection. He felt like he was watching reality.

"Mercury and her moon."

"Mercury?" Raphael threw a skeptical look her way.

"The name of our planet."

"After the Roman god?"

"Who? – After the element," Falla offered an equally confused look. "It's not a very pretty name but we couldn't be picky. Some olm call it the New Domovyna but I find that too romanticized," she sighed lost in thought for a moment.

"Well anyway!" Fallachis hurriedly pulled everything together back to tiny galaxy specks. She shot a precise straight line with her index finger from where her galaxy was until she pinched a different part of the projection. _"This_ is the Brandua Galaxy," she pointed to a tiny dot in another bundle and left it to float in Raph's cupped hands. "Where the Elas 13 Solar System and Niktikleptis are."

Raphael carefully pulled apart the tiny galaxy like he had seen Fallachis do until a swirly cluster of sparkly dust rested between his hands.

"You want to find it? – Here," Falla grabbed his hands to help him scale in a bit more. "It's the most isolated star of the bunch."

Raphael searched for a sparkle that could be it before Falla redirected his gaze to a tiny dot much further from the swirly mass. It stood at the very tip of the galaxy.

"So far away…"

"No wonder the republic doesn't care about it," the woman commented.

A silent moment passed before she scaled the galaxy back into a tiny grain of dust accompanied by all the rest.

"Now, El," the alien's voice grew solemn, "find the Bogoo Zah Herb-Tom again and count all the galaxies between them. Multiply that by 1600 million and then reconsider why you should get comfortable as an only child."

Raphael eyes widened. Her sudden sharp words were like a punch to his stomach. His eyes skipped over the glowing dust around them. He didn't even know what direction to look at to find that galaxy. He didn't even know which one the Brandua was anymore. There were a countless number of them and they were indistinguishable. She expected him to find a particular grain of sand on a sandy beach. That was impossible!

Falla's eyes glowed cold and murky between the lights surrounding them. They were filling Raphael with dread as he realized what her picturesque presentation was really all about.

A moment of him staring back completely petrified and shocked passed before Fallachis Maika spoke up.

"Lost?"

She snapped the book shut and made Raph flinch. They were back in the bedroom in a blink of an eye.

The alien pushed her giant weight off the bed and placed the book back on the shelf. She opened the bedroom door and lingered by it for a moment before turning around with a friendly expression back on her face like effortlessly changing a mask.

"Tomorrow's going to be a nice day. So we'll go outside for a walk, okay?"

She didn't wait for an answer. "Good night, El."

After turning off the lights she closed the door behind her leaving Raphael still on the bed and still frozen and panicked. His mind was going over all the numbers she told him. _Millions and billions and sextillions…_ He was suddenly sick from the thought of the pretty stars and swirly galaxies. He was feeling smaller with every second and it was suffocating him.

He hurled a pillow at the door with an angry cry and another at the candle before hugging his legs and burying his face between them.

His brothers were coming for him. He _knew_ they were! Fallachis was just trying to scare him.

And it was working…

 **xXVXx**


	24. How Many Blossoms on a Queen Ann's Lace?

Almost forgot to post on time!

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Seeing your reviews really makes me see that everyone experiences a book differently. I mean, _Indiana Rose,_ you're really pulling out the creepiest theories and assumptions about Falla that make me question how strongly she's coming across as evil.

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twenty-Four**

 **How Many Blossoms on a Queen Ann's Lace?**

"Here," Fallachis Maika handed Raphael a new slice of bread covered with a thick layer of butter and dripping with jam.

The boy gladly took it with his left hand while still licking the sticky fingers and palm of the other.

Early sunshine was falling through the clear windows of the light, floral morning room and over the polished, honey brown floor and furniture. There were potted ivies and orchids surrounding the two and filling up all the empty spaces in the bright, cozy room.

Raphael was enjoying the warm sun rays on his skin in the chill morning air and greedily munching on his fourth piece of bread already.

"I'm happy to see you're finally eating something. Look how hungry you were!" Falla smiled from the other side of the round table. She still had a piece of her much bigger slice on her ceramic plate and was currently just enjoying a cup of tea cupped in her hands and steaming under her face.

"Mmhmm…" Breakfast tasted amazing for something so simple. "The bread's really good," Raph mumbled with a full mouth while looking through the windows and lazily kicking his feet under the table.

The garden and edge of the forest were clean and nurtured from his lateral view. Parts of the large lot were beds of blooming flowers and fruit trees and other parts were covered with boulders and arranged into beautiful rock gardens. It was all so pretty, well tamed, enormous, and almost exactly like-

"It's buckwheat with walnuts."

Raph's lost eyes slowly focused back on the alien giant. "It's what?"

"Buckwheat bread. I made it yesterday after you went to bed."

Raphael had never eaten anything made with buckwheat or walnuts but he knew what they were. Where did she get that…? "What's the jam?"

"Barberry jam. I made that too," Falla smiled.

Okay, he didn't know what that was… "And the butter?"

"From milk of course, silly."

Raph face flushed. He felt almost stupid for even asking. – "What milk?"

"From the neighbors' cattle. They have a dairy farm."

Raphael's brows furrowed together, even more confused. He didn't ask about it further and returned to eating his bread as if his brain decided he didn't need to bother it with the information.

"We might see the cattle on the mountain pasture when we go for a hike after you finish breakfast and I wash the dishes. It's such a lovely day. It'd be a shame to waste it away inside.

"Do you want another slice?"

"No," Raphael shook his head and grabbed the teacup he'd almost forgotten about.

He noticed the woman staring at him expectantly.

"No, _thank you,"_ he quickly corrected himself. As soon as he spoke the words, he frowned. They sounded wrong but he quickly dismissed the thought.

He continued to kick his feet in a lazy rhythm while sipping the lukewarm tea and watching the outside. Fallachis Maika left with the dishes and food after a while and left him alone with his thoughts.

Raph understood something in his head wasn't making sense. He didn't know who Falla was but he felt like he should know. Her presence seemed very clear but Raph was missing context. Wasn't she like an old friend? She certainly felt like someone very close to him but at the same time he couldn't help but feel uneasy around her at times. She scared him last night… At least he thought he remembered so. But he couldn't remember how or why…

Where were his brothers, again? … They were on their way here – wherever here was, _right? Uhh…_ …On their way from _where?_ – _The market?_ Where was Raph anyway? _…Mercury…_

Nothing made any sense!

"Have you finished your tea, pumpkin?"

Raphael's attention was completely redirected by the woman's sudden presence. All his forming thoughts were gone in a blink of his eyes.

Had enough time already passed for her to put away the food and wash the dishes…?

He stared at her rising another ten feet over him in the booster seat and couldn't decide whether to marvel at her or feel intimidated. He definitely felt out of place.

 _Tea…_ He remembered her question and looked back down at his emptied cup, banishing all the new negative thoughts. "Yes," he muttered a moment before he felt large hands take hold of him under his armpits and lifting him out of the booster seat.

"Let's get going then."

Raphael let out a quiet yelp at the motion but didn't protest further as she leaned him against her. His mind was empty and completely lost so he pulled towards the only person who felt like she had any understanding of his situation. He held himself against her collarbone. He ignored the muffled voice inside him that told him to push back because he couldn't find a reason to do so. Falla obviously knew what she was doing, so why not trust her?

He remembered his brothers again while the woman walked through her enormous house toward the foyer. Falla probably knew where they were. Raph concentrated his distracted mind on asking her-

"Do you like the outdoors, El?"

 _The outdoors…?_ His mind lost its grip and wandered again.

…He had slowly grown to like the outdoors as time had passed by at April's farmhouse. The meadows and forest felt alive and busy in a different sense from New York City. Days there had been bright blue and night skies darker than Raph had thought was possible beforehand.

Raph liked nature despite how depressed it made him just thinking about it… "Yeah," he mumbled into her light sundress with a familiar longing in his voice but currently lost to his scattered mind.

Fallachis placed the boy on a carpeted floor by what he assumed was the front door. His knees buckled when she let go of him. He kept forgetting about the stronger gravity despite constantly feeling it push against him. He strained his muscles a bit more than he normally would to straighten up where he stood. It wasn't so bad on a short run…

While the woman was picking a scarf to wear over her head from a bundle of colorful fabrics in a wardrobe, Raphael looked around the narrow hall.

"What's with all the chests and boxes?" he asked after deciding there were too many too scattered around the floor to be part of unusual room décor.

Falla looked around while tying a white, floral-patterned scarf in place. "Oh, haven't I told you yet? My Third of First and First of Second are moving in for a while. They're supposed to arrive sometime today in the afternoon. – I know it's a mess but their things arrived a few days early."

Raph blinked and absently nodded. He didn't really want to know what she was talking about, being already confused enough as it was. "Falla, do you-"

"Done! Now we can leave," the woman interrupted his almost inaudible question and opened the front door. She held an empty woven basket the size of a bathtub in one hand while offering the other hand to the boy.

When Raph didn't immediately stir she took his hand on her own and pulled him along.

His left arm was stretched high above his head to reach the woman's and his step every now and then faltered in the air, not fully reaching the floor. He couldn't find a comfortable pace to match hers. He skipped down the porch stairs trying to keep up with her slow, but too long steps.

He soon halted when he realized that the plants by the path growing to the heights of his shoulders were dandelions. His eyes widened, but Falla's grip on his wrist continued to pull him forward and cut his marveling short.

All the plants had already seemed bigger from afar. He hadn't realized they were _that_ much bigger. A gigantic mixed forest was surrounding the gardens around the house with some trees reaching the heights of skyscrapers. The mountains he could see rising above the tree line seemed even more enormous than they did when he was observing them from the inside.

He turned around to get a look at the house. What he gazed at was something he had never seen or imagined before, but his mind still found resemblance in things he was more familiar with, or at least he had known existed. The outside didn't betray the glamor of the inside. A giant villa in the same curvy style as the interior rose high into the sky. The building was rounded and curved like a pattern as a whole; the façade wrapped around it like a lace. It was like Gaudi's architecture but bigger and more of everything. A dome similar to the one on the Florence Cathedral was rising into the blue sky by the side where undoubtedly the round three-floor library was. Raphael also recognized the rainbow stained glass window overlooking the forest at which he stood yesterday. And to even out all the striking but soft grandeur, nature was growing with the building. The lower roofs were part of a grassy hill that then stretched like a mossy blanket over parts of the mansion along with climbing roses and ivy.

Somehow all the details worked together in making an outstanding building.

Raphael's mouth was hanging open in wonderment but he found himself moving closer to the woman when the unfamiliarity of his surroundings superseded the familiarity. "Where are we?" he asked even though he felt like he had already heard the answer before.

They reached a road previously hidden by the trees. It was built out of wide hexagon plates locked next to each other with about five of them making the width of the empty road. Both directions proceeded deeper into the woods with no visible goal.

"Still home, of course," Fallachis answered simply.

Raphael stared up at her desperately. _Home?_ Nothing looked or felt like home but he believed the woman nonetheless. He now remembered her telling him that before already. Still, he was uneasy.

"Where are my brothers?"

"Stop acting silly, darling."

Raphael redirected his wide eyes at the ground while a strange feeling of shame filled him.

xXx

"Help me pick the nettles, El" Falla called to him from where she was crouching in the shade of a steep forest edge between tall grass and wildflowers.

They had long ago split off from the paved road and had proceeded higher into the mountains through narrow paths leading over steep grassy clearings and scree slopes.

Making a few steps over a meadow was like crawling through a jungle. Raphael eventually pushed his way through the tall greenery to the woman's side.

He waited to see what plant she was picking before grabbing one of the same kind, as tall as him, growing beside him.

"Ow!" He immediately pulled away. "It stung me!" he cried out in shock.

 _"It's okay,"_ Fallachis reassured in her demeaning soft voice before quickly reverting back to her normal tone upon seeing Raphael's offended reaction. "It _is_ a stinging nettle. Your hands are going to be itchy for a bit, but on the bright side it's healthy to get stung."

"Hooray…"

Falla ignored his sarcasm and knelt down beside him. "Just carefully hold it by the stem like this and avoid the downside of the leaves, and you should be fine." She plucked another one to show the turtle and then placed it in her basket with the rest.

Raphael actually set to work again after a long frustrated exhale. He carefully tore a few nettles with success and even more carefully laid them in the basket. Eventually his movements became just a tad bit more confident and he stung himself on one again.

"Ggrraahhh!" he groaned completely frustrated and scratched his hand. He noticed a bubbly rash already breaking out where he was stung before. "I got hives!" he piped up loudly with the horror of seeing his hand bleed everywhere.

"That's normal, El," Fallachis reassured.

"How is this normal!? Hives are not normal! – What is the point of this anyway!?"

 _This is not a nature child,_ the woman thought in amusement. "How about you go pick some flowers to put in a vase back home and leave the nettle to me?" she proposed with a kind smile.

Raphael was offended and embarrassed beyond himself. He was completely capable of picking a few plants! Although he realized how spoiled and whiny he had just sounded. His cheeks burned while he scowled. _Uughh! I hate this!_ She was making him feel like a spoiled brat!

He still took Falla's offer and stormed off to cool off alone. – Nowhere near her!

He carelessly tore tufts of flowers while kicking at the grass in his way, releasing his anger on it.

 _"Stupid nettle! And stupid flowers! And stupid hives!"_ he scratched his hand while grumbling.

"Don't go too far! Stay near me!" he heard Fallachis call from the forest edge after he wandered into the meadow quite a way from it.

"I'm right here! I'm not going ANYWHERE!" Raph screamed back completely agitated, on the verge of a meltdown. She wouldn't get off his back for even a minute! He didn't need her constantly breathing down his neck! He was miserable enough as it was!

He kicked the grass one last time before plopping his heavy weight down in the tall, colorful meadow overlooking the valley.

He stubbornly steamed on the spot for a minute, repeating his hatred for Fallachis in his head.

She had drugged him again! He knew she had. His memory of the morning events was hazy and he had acted like a pathetic idiot while she treated him like an incapable toddler! She had tried feeding him lies again and Raph felt unsettled by how long it had taken him to realize they weren't true. She was completely messing with his head!

On top of it all, he was shivering cold and his legs ached horribly. He was more exhausted than he cared to admit.

Raph eventually let out a defeated huff after a minute. No matter how hard he scowled at his feet, it didn't change his situation. He allowed his shoulders to fall and his head hang.

He looked up from the ground and saw the vast, mountainous landscape opening up through the blades of grass, which he couldn't have seen as clearly back in the valley. He saw light gray rock bathed in the strong sunlight and snow trapped in cliffs reflecting it. His eyes followed a river down the valley and then the wind gently grazing over the wild pastures all throughout and stirring the flowers and grass.

There were small birds twittering in the trees back in the forest, and complimenting the wind's soft howls. Crickets and different small animals were heard all around him in the busy motley meadow. There was nothing but nature all around without any signs of civilization.

The untouched wilderness felt at peace and in harmony and it was suddenly reflecting on Raphael, slowing down his breaths and loosening his tense muscles.

He suppressed the emotion before it could overtake him.

"What am I doing…?" He stared at his lap and the flowers he had picked and held in his hands.

He was supposed to be finding a way back to his family. Instead he was picking flowers and going along with what Falla wanted him for in the first place. Even now when he was lucid!

But there weren't any ways to reach his brothers. That really was it. There just wasn't anything. He didn't need to futilely try to know that. He didn't even know what trying would look like in the position he was in… _Run away into the forest, and then what? Build a spaceship out of twigs and mud?_

He couldn't get off the planet. He was stuck here. He was stuck with Falla and she was very aware of that. Her messed up plan was fool-proof without the need of his cooperation.

Raphael wondered what his brothers were doing and thinking right now. He wondered if the situation seemed any less hopeless to them, and whether they were getting close. He had been wondering that for a few days now…

 _Just stay put and wait for them…_ Raphael fidgeted with the flowers, subconsciously arranging them.

Things might seem terrible at the moment but it would all work out. It always had…

His eyes stopped on the countless, tiny, white blossoms of Queen Anne's lace he was tucking next to buttercups. He stared at the umbel shape. _Millions…_ Raphael could feel his dread growing with every minute. He could physically feel the cold taking hold of him and never letting go.

He was scared.

He admitted it. He was so scared! And he was scared of Fallachis and her unpredictable behavior when he didn't play along with her innocent game. If he had any choice to begin with. He didn't know if she would continue drugging him like this until he really couldn't tell the truth from the lies anymore.

He was still getting over a throbbing headache from before and was paranoid that there may already be something he couldn't remember.

He looked over his shoulder in the woman's direction and saw her frame still bent over and picking wild plants under the tree edge, listening to birdsongs, and completely lost in her perfect, peaceful world. A world Raphael began to see but it was only scaring him more.

He didn't know what would happen with him. He didn't know anything except the chance of him seeing his brothers again was practically nonexistent.

Raphael's normal reaction was to be loud and violent. He hadn't failed to be. But that always cooled down and brought him to the same miserable position where he was just staring in front of himself feeling completely useless and small, just like now.

Was he just going to live here from now on?

He hugged his legs and laid his cheek against a knee. His throat was tight but he wasn't going to cry. It hadn't even been three days. He just needed to be patient. …And hopeful…

He lazily watched the swaying strands of grass in front of him with half closed eyes trying to calm his miserable thoughts.

"El, come here!"

Raph's worried forehead furrowed in annoyance. _Not even five minutes!_

"Run here right now!"

She sounded alert but the turtle successfully ignored her. His muscles tensed up when he heard her steps coming towards him.

"Raphael!"

Raph's eyes snapped open from the loud desperate shout right behind him. Suddenly Falla's large feet landed on both sides of his balled up frame and shook the ground beneath him. Raph immediately rolled back on his shell and shielded himself with his arms and legs in preparation. He thought she was going to strike him.

He heard a loud flap and a screech above him and Fallachis shouting something like _"zhviss!"_ before feeling her arm wrap around his middle and pull him into the cover of her crouching form.

Raph opened his eyes just in time to see a large brown wing flap in front of him then bolt into the sky out of his sight.

"That went by a hair!" Fallachis breathed out and plopped down on her butt. "Whoa." She pulled Raphael closer to her stomach while gazing in the distance behind them.

The boy was completely shocked and startled. "What happened!?" he demanded once he found his voice. Everything happened so suddenly he had no idea what went off at all.

Falla was quiet for a short moment then picked up a big, long feather from the trampled grass and handed it to Raph. "A hungry and desperate falcon thought you looked like a good meal."

Raph's eyes somehow widened even more. His heart began to thump although the threat was already gone. _A falcon!?_ He reluctantly took the feather – a good forty inches long – and watched it like some kind of murder weapon. He didn't even see or hear the bird coming!

"First time for everything, huh?" Falla laughed. She shifted when she didn't hear any reaction from the boy. "I think it's time to turn back. It's late forenoon already," she proposed.

"You're bleeding!" Raph piped up once feeling something wet under his arm and noticing the woman's forearm around his waist was scratched. His eyes widened at the length of the claw mark.

Falla pulled it away and calmly inspected the injury over the boy's head.

Raph immediately took the chance to move from under her and sit down opposite her. He observed her beaded, maroon-pink blood gathering at the top of the wound. For some reason he expected her to bleed red.

"It's just a scratch," Falla assured him after a minute as if he were the one hurt. "I don't have anything useful with us however…"

She used her uninjured arm to search the meadow around her and find some short pointy leaves hidden in the taller grass. She picked a few of the same plant and crushed them in her grip. She then proceeded to cover her bloody scratch with them. Then she covered that with a few more undamaged leaves and pressed them down with her fingers.

She lifted her arm closer to Raphael and looked at him with the ever-present smile. "Can you tie grass around it? You have smaller fingers than me."

Raphael needed a moment to realize she had asked him for help. His mind was still somewhere in the sky with the giant bird. He was still rattled by the fact he had almost become falcon food out of literally nowhere. He looked down his bloodied arm and was startled to see the feather still in his hand. He immediately let go of it as if it were dangerous.

His cheeks flushed when he met Falla's gaze again. He hurriedly wiped the bloodied arm in the grass before pushing himself to his knees and scooting closer. "Sounds simple enough," he rasped out.

He used a couple strands of grass to try and tie the leaves down but each strand broke when he tried making a knot despite how careful he was being. A familiar, frustrated grunt escaped his greeted teeth.

"No need to get worked up over something like this," Falla said calmly, already foreseeing another oncoming tantrum.

Raphael would have gladly taken the advice, knowing it was true, if it hadn't come from the person that bought him as a pet and pretended there was nothing wrong with that. He closed his eyes for a few seconds to try and calm himself down with a long exhale. He had seriously had enough screaming for at least a couple of hours.

"Try this one," the alien handed him a grass stem and not the long, flat strands he had been using.

Raphael took it with a bitter frown. The stem was firmer and he successfully tied the first knot. He didn't comment on it and only quietly continued to tie grass stems along the length of Falla's forearm.

"What is that?" he asked once he finished securing the makeshift, leafy bandage and saw Fallachis Maika searching for more of the same plant in the meadow.

"Ribleaf. It helps heal wounds along with its other qualities," she answered and rose to her feet with a handful of the leaves. She turned to walk back to her basket still waiting under the shade by the forest edge.

Raph watched her from his spot. Something about the woman was just so strange… And not just because of the way she acted. She didn't fit into the scenery. She was a giant, pink humanoid with long tentacles growing from her head, strange mixture of ears and external gills, and creepy, dull, blue eyes. And everything else was _…Earth._

"Stay near me unless you want a weasel to come looking for you next."

Raphael didn't waste a second and ran after her, ignoring the strain in his legs.

 **xXVXx**


	25. Times Three

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Thank you everyone for your encouraging comments! I'm happy I'm still holding your interest. :)

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twenty-Five**

 **Times Three**

Once Fallachis and Raphael reached home, his legs finally gave away beneath him. He immediately crashed on the living room sofa to take the strain from them. His leg muscles were twitching and burning and his joints ached. At least it dulled the headache that was still persistently buzzing through his head, Raphael thought.

Fallachis had repeatedly offered to carry him on the way back but he refused every time, even violently when the woman lifted him against his will. Part of Raphael was regretting that decision now as he was lying down on his side and rubbing his hands up and down his pulsing thighs. He felt sorer than after a long mission in the turtle sub.

 _Dumb gravity…_

Even lying down he could feel his heavier weight being pulled into the cushion and straining his bent, collared neck and shoulders.

"I really don't understand why you would strain yourself like this. Do you have a reputation to keep that involves walking everywhere?" Fallachis appeared from the kitchen and knelt down in front of the sofa with a dark glass bottle and jar in her lap.

Raphael frowned at her. "That's it," he muttered sarcastically.

"Here," she scooped a teaspoon – slightly bigger than a regular spoon – of a weird green paste from the jar and turned it toward his mouth.

"That looks disgusting!" Raph quickly twisted away and pulled himself upward.

"It's good for strengthening bones."

"I don't want it."

"Did you even hear what I just said?"

"I don't care what it's for. I'm not eating it!"

Falla sighed and lowered the spoon for a moment. She was very clearly growing tired of his defiance again. "You're really stubborn, you know?"

"And you're not?" he spat back. She wanted to make him feel like a problem child when the only problem was her!

"I'm trying to help you!"

"No, you're not!" None of this was about him. It was because _she_ wanted it so. She wanted control over him and to pretend to be some kind of good motherly savior. "If you don't like backlashing _slaves,_ buy yourself a doll, you creep!"

"Do you want me to turn you into one?"

 _"No!"_

"Then act like it!" Falla forcefully yanked him closer to her by the wrist. Their faces were inches apart with Falla's still looming over his even as she knelt on the floor. Her comment wasn't just a quick sarcastic response, it was a threat. She could paralyze him whenever she wanted to and get everything done that way.

Her cold eyes bored down into him as she lifted the teaspoon again.

Raphael stared at it for an extended moment as if trying to figure out a trick behind it. There wasn't anything – just her suffocating persistence and his breaking ego. He wanted to scream and kick to release his frustration, but he swallowed the urge down and slowly lifted his free hand to take the offered cutlery.

Falla shook her head. She pulled that hand into her large grip, too, and lowered it. "Open up."

Raph's cheeks flushed and his eyes widened, pleading at the woman. When her eyebrows began to lower impatiently, he reluctantly opened his mouth to allow her to feed him the thick herbal mush.

He grimaced from the tart, bitter taste and quickly swallowed it down. _"Ugh…"_

"Now was that so bad, kitten?"

Raphael didn't respond. He quietly stared at his sprawled legs with a miserable look on his face. He felt hurt beyond embarrassment. This was worse demeaning torture than being captured by the Shredder, he was sure.

"I'm going to massage your legs with the oil now, okay? You should have mentioned something about the gravity. Most aliens grow used to it in a day or so, so I didn't even think whether you'd have problems with it or not." Falla pulled herself on the sofa and opened the bottle of essential oil.

Raphael quickly shied away from her and pulled his legs closer.

Her face immediately grew solemn. "Again?"

"I'm fine! I don't need anything!"

"Don't be silly." Falla moved forward and grabbed Raph's leg, pulling it down.

Raph trembled under the large hand pushing his thigh against the sofa. It felt too familiar. He panicked and kicked away. "Get off! Don't touch me!" His stomach twisted and his face turned red again from a different type of shame.

"Enough, El! We're doing this to avoid any nasty cramps."

Raphael felt completely cornered. Falla clearly had that candle or remote as a solution written across her features if he wouldn't stop. But he didn't want a massage from her. He didn't want her so close. He rarely allowed his brothers to massage his muscles after getting sorer than usual from a battle. "J-Just let me do it myself."

Fallachis' shoulders dropped and her face softened from hearing the frustrated, tight voice. She cupped Raphael's flushed face then pulled him into an embrace. _"Oh sweetheart,_ what did they do to you?" She hid his trembling frame under her giant arms.

Raphael clawed and pushed at her stomach. "Let me go!"

And she did.

"Stop touching me!"

"You don't need to feel uncomfortable about something like this around me. – But here," she handed him the bottle, "do it yourself and I'll go focus on my arm."

The leafy bandage had long ago fallen off and Raphael could see the long violet scratch scabbing.

"Then I'll go start preparing dinner, and you can… you can do whatever you want, really. Just be careful if you go outside."

She rubbed the top of Raphael's head and got up. She smiled at him with that reassuring smile she always used, as if it would make Raph's nightmare of a situation any better, before turning around and leaving back through the arch leading into the kitchen area.

Raph stared after her, more than relieved she had left. He looked at the big bottle in his hands and lap with a doubtful frown before opening it and smelling the strong essence. Although Falla seemed capable of turning anything into an opportunity to torment him, she really wanted to be helpful in this particular case. Raph had had muscle cramps before. They're excruciating and very much _not_ what he wanted to deal with on top of everything else.

He dribbled some of the oil over his thighs and set to work with the intention of also losing his mind in it. Even if just for a little while. He just needed to rest his thoughts, focus on something simple, and not think about every little detail that was turning against him, or about the new fate he was starting to take in with each second spent on this planet.

xXx

Raphael hummed as he stirred awake from an unexpected nap. He had dozed off after minutes of lying on the sofa, not really feeling like walking around yet. He slowly blinked his eyes open and rolled to his side only to come face to face with Fallachis inches from his snout.

"Aaah!" he jerked away into the cushions.

 _"Aaaw…"_

Could he get no privacy at all!? He felt the warmth leave his shoulders once he sat up and the familiar chill air took hold of him again. Falla must have had covered him with a woolen blanket at some point in his sleep and he had practically wrapped himself in it.

"You are _so-o-o-o_ adorable!" the alien commented on his confused pout and made Raph's brows furrow together even more.

She was observing him with the excitement of seeing baby animals at the zoo. Raphael didn't even want to know how long she had been kneeling there watching him sleep… _Ugh!_

Her expression, the longer he looked at it, didn't remind him of Falla, but that definitely was her…

 _"Falla?"_

"Mmhmm?"

…

Her voice was slightly different. She sounded younger. On second thought she looked younger, too. Her sprouts seemed shorter and were twisted into a pointy, uneven hairdo. And her makeup and clothes didn't match the ones he last saw Fallachis in. There were sharper, bolder lines drawn on her pink face and she wore an unzipped, bright leather jacket over the familiar white and blue leotard.

Raphael's guard slowly went up and he scooted further away from her where she crouched on the floor and rested her elbows on the couch. "You're not Falla."

"I am," she grinned cockily.

In the very same second Fallachis stepped through the arched doorway and confirmed Raphael's assumption correct. He bolted off the sofa with a sudden urge to hide behind the woman's legs from the strange newcomer.

"…Though not the Falla you have in mind," the alien still crouching by the sofa concluded then got up. – "Isn't she cute?"

 _She?_ Raph made a face but didn't comment.

"A jumpy little one," Fallachis smiled at the boy who was warily watching the other girl from behind her legs. – "You do realize I'm also not Maika?"

Raph's eyes widened while he took a careful step in reverse. He noticed that alien was also dressed differently and wore her sprouts down over her entire back. _…What is going on?_

"Hey, El, you're up!"

Raphael screamed when he suddenly heard the third voice right behind him and felt the person immediately lift him from the floor.

"Whoa! Calm down," Falla laughed and bounced him on her hip. "It's just me."

"Who?!" Raph's voice cracked.

"Fallachis Maika – the one you know," she smiled down at him tucked against her side. "And I see you've already met my family."

Raph stared at the two other present with a wary, doubtful frown. They were all almost identical looking. Like freaky triplets. But the first one was shorter and younger. So just sisters?

"That's Hchee, my Third of First. She's an amazing teacher," Falla pointed at the older alien in a long sweater vest and patterned scarf.

"Maika, you're modest."

"And that's my First of Second, Vnukinya."

"Hi," the girl waved at Raph with a friendly smile.

The quick introduction didn't clear up anything for Raph. If anything, he was even more confused. _Third of what? What does that mean?_ "Are you sisters?"

"That's not how it works." Falla turned around, still carrying him, and proceeded towards the dining room area.

"You woke up just in time for food. Or did Kinya wake you up? Well, you're up now. I had planned to have dinner earlier but you fell asleep on the couch, and then Hchee called a few showers later, saying that they'll arrive soon, so I just delayed everything. You must be hungry by now!"

She sat him down in his booster seat in front of a teacup saucer serving as his plate. Hchee sat down on her own seat across from him while Vnukinya followed Falla into the kitchen to help bring out the food.

The present alien silently stared at Raph, almost expectantly.

 _Great…_ Like one Fallachis wasn't enough. Now he had to deal with two more…

"What?" he grumbled when she didn't stop staring.

"Well, it's not exactly every day we get to see an alien," she smirked. "I don't even remember the last time I saw one of Maika's pets."

Raphael scowled back before looking away and ignoring her gaze. He didn't feel comfortable around her and was almost relieved when Falla and the youngest returned with an oven plate of what looked like baked potatoes and other vegetables and a smaller pot of cooked nettle.

They all received a portion with Raph's looking like a mountain of food. They could have easily given him a regular plate if they were going to stack so much on it.

…

"El, Hchee's a Govarian teacher," Falla addressed him after a few minutes of banter between the three, after even he dug into the food, no longer able to resist his hunger. "She could help you learn the language while they stay here! Wouldn't that be great?"

"No."

"Of course it would. You're just being stubborn again."

"It'd be nice to know how to read and write," Hchee agreed.

"I know how to read and write!"

"Maybe in your native tongue but what good does that do when you can't read anything here? Maika has an impressive library."

Falla smiled at that and nodded. "Rainy days could easily be boring for someone as restless as you."

"Why don't we take her to the history museum? So she could learn some basic stuff," Vnukinya proposed. "You arrived only a couple of days back, right? You must be a little confused."

"I'm a guy," Raph grumbled.

"You're what?"

"A guy."

"He means _a male,_ Kinya," Falla explained. "With the _'he'_ pronouns."

"W-what?" Vnukinya suddenly laughed with a confused smile. "A _male?_ Like an animal?"

Raphael stared at her wide-eyed and lost for words.

"Does that mean you also mate?"

His face paled. _"What?"_

"Of course he does, Vnukinya. That's what males and females do."

Heat crept to Raphael's face when the girl laughed again. Why was that so funny? What did she mean by "animal"?

"Vnukinya, stop making faces and eat your food," Hchee ordered. "You're making him uncomfortable."

"A-Are you not women? – _Females?"_ Raph corrected himself when he saw the same confusion cross Kinya's face.

 _"Eeww…_ We're not!"

"Then what?"

"Well, nothing. _Duh._ Just olm. No _she_ or _he_ -olm."

"But you use the 'she' pronoun!"

"And?"

"El _sweetie_ ," Falla took Raph's attention off the girl. "Your translator is just using the pronoun that makes most sense to you. It doesn't mean anything really. Eat your food before it gets cold."

Raphael stayed silent for a minute and ate a few bites – the nettle was oddly good – before he turned up to ask again. "Falla?"

"Hmm?" All three looked up from their plates.

Okay, that was confusing. "Uhh…?"

"Just call me by my entity if we're all in the same room, and by the identity when it's just one of us."

 _"Umm…" What?_

"Maika."

 _"Right._ – How exactly are you related? If you're not girls _or guys,_ you're also not sisters, or mother and daughter _and granddaughter?"_ he looked them over uncertainly. He wasn't exactly sure of the age difference between Maika and Hchee, if there was any…

"We're clones," Hchee simply answered.

"Clones?"

"Not creepy, science lab clones," Vnukinya jumped in. "Natural ones."

Hchee elaborated further, "Birthed naturally but without the requirement of another's DNA, so we're exact replicas. I'm Maika's first generation clone and Kinya is her second generation clone because I gave birth to her. So I guess, kind of like _'parent – child – grandchild'_ in some alien cultures."

Raphael was having trouble following the confusing information. "So Kinya's your _First?"_

"She isn't exactly," Hchee shook her head. "The name is always applied to Maika. She's the _Original_. I'm the intermediate olm whose whole life is within the same identity. And Kinya's the final generation who's going to get her own original identity when she grows up so she'll become an Original like Maika and start her own family of clones."

"And that's the circle of life," Vnukinya concluded.

Raph didn't really follow the brief explanation. Their circle of life was weird! He was mostly weirded out by the fact that Falla was practically a grandmother. He didn't know she was _old!_

"Now eat," Falla called for his attention again. "You can learn some more later."

 **xXVXx**


	26. Pronouns

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_ Lots of new pictures and even fanart, yay!

I'm switching the update days from Fridays to Thursdays because it better fits me in the new school semester, so you get a chapter a day early, yay again!

Some of you keep repeating some questions in the comments. This isn't a Q&A but a story and Raph isn't a very curious individual that would personally ask the olm (these aliens) a lot of questions. So I can't promise all your questions will be answered - even if I do have explanations to them, they might feel intrusive in the story flow so they won't show up. (Also there will be so much "pointless filler" information already, because I need this world to work.) Of course I will try to explain enough to not keep you completely lost, but in a way I want you to experience this story through Raph. And he already knows less than the readers...

But I AM super super happy that you're so curious about my aliens' intentions and about them in general! :D I love my alien ladies whoarenotreallyladies! Hopefully this chapter will satisfy your curiosity a bit. - I originally wrote this story for myself and Cel (my super super amazing beta, go read her stories (CelandineGranger)), and we both talked a lot about it while I was planing and writing the plot: the worldbuilding, the original characters' backgrounds, history, and details that would make normal people get bored - _so_ we both experience this tale a lot differently than you because I hyped up both of us for it, _I guess(?)._ IDK, I went really into detail with some things that won't even get mentioned. I however will mention quite a lot still, so I hope you don't mind, but I'm assuming that if you're still here then you must be at least a bit of a nerd like us. :D

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twenty-Six**

 **Pronouns**

Fortunately for Raphael, they didn't decide to go to a museum that afternoon. Fallachis had said that the first house to have an entrance pass was at the very end of the valley – whatever that meant – and it would take them at least a "fog" to drive there. And Hchee had told Vnukinya that she was exhausted from two days of driving and wanted to go to bed early.

Raph wouldn't have minded going to bed directly after dinner, too. He would have gladly avoided any conversation with the talkative aliens and sleep through his whole stay here. His biological clock was also telling him it should have already been late at night, way past his normal bedtime. But Falla had dragged him to the library where she had sat him down on the umpteenth couch he'd seen in her large, sumptuous house.

She had walked up to him with a number of books, having decided to school Raph on their history herself, and the turtle had the youngest to thank for that. Falla had pulled him close – would have gladly pulled him into her lap if Raph hadn't made a fuss about it – so they could read through the books together. Not that Raph could follow anything except for maybe some photos that thankfully weren't flashing holograms giving him a migraine.

He had halfheartedly listened to Falla since he had had nothing better to do and wouldn't have been allowed to do anything else anyway. It helped that the woman was summing it all up briefly in the form of storytelling – it helped to distract his depressing thoughts. He just hoped it wasn't another trick of hers to further crush his hopes of being rescued in the end.

…

"Here's the latest photo of Domovyna," Falla pointed to a photo of a planet after minutes of her monologuing and forced Raph to open his eyes again.

He had almost dozed off. With a full stomach, tucked against her warm body, listening to the rhythm of her slow heart and her calm voice was like the perfect recipe for turning sleepy. He seriously wanted to go to bed already. The nap earlier had only served to make him feel worse. There was a nasty buzz forming in his head again from forcing himself awake every few minutes after he dared to close his eyes…

The frequent headaches were just going to be something to get used to from now on, he guessed…

Raph refocused his attention back to her words, what she was explaining, before his thoughts would wander again. Some facts Falla told were actually kind of interesting and helped him paint himself a clearer picture of the olm. Things he found weird were partially clicking into place about why they were so obsessed with their wealthy image and greatness and were obviously more advanced than humans but lived authentic and subordinated to nature.

As Fallachis' storytelling went, they were, and claim to still be, one of the greatest and one of the earliest developed intelligent species in the third layer of the known Universe. Through time, much longer than humans have spent on Earth, their people had slowly come to find a solution to every problem faced on their homeland, Domovyna. Poverty, unemployment, wars, and suppression had practically been erased from their civilization. They were also extremely wealthy because of their interstellar trade in metalwork, and never faced any threats from beyond. Falla said some glorified it and called their world a paradise.

But then their sun died.

Other planets they had connections with had offered the Domovynian olm refuge. However they declined them all. They didn't wish to spread out to different parts of the Universe and live as foreigners.

Before the change of the dying sun could affect them, they had purchased a planet with their universal wealth, in a far-away galaxy, with a climate they could live in, that had no civilization already occupying it.

That was when The Great Death happened, as Falla called it, when eighty percent of the population didn't wish to leave despite all having the option to, and stayed to die together with their planet. Falla explained that their kind was very tied to their beliefs and most families understood the death of their sun and home as the end for their kind, too.

The many that did escape had landed into an unknown wilderness where they had to learn to survive all over again like the people in the beginning of their history. They didn't know what was edible, what poisonous, what was safe, and what dangerous. There was no technology, no shelters, nothing but raw nature and their long forgotten knowledge to live in it.

Apparently only a few more than ten million survived the first decades with many nations and languages going extinct until the numbers somewhat stabilized.

When they found some ground under their feet, they set strict rules that limited them even more but were born from the sense that Mercury wasn't their true home and they should not ever claim it as such, and from the lessons they had learned in which they had hurt their home-planet throughout history.

So came the rules that went in the lines of _destruction or avoidable interference with the wildlife is forbidden; monoculture is forbidden; change of habitat is forbidden; pollution, production of unnatural materials and toxins is forbidden; growing non-autochthonous plants is forbidden;…_ And so on, and so on. Everything that would leave any kind of a significant mark of their presence in nature was out of the question.

After a while they passed a law on herding autochthonous wild cattle and some fowls, Raph learned when he asked about the fluffy cows he and Falla had passed in the morning, but it never extended to other farm animals Raph knew from Earth. Hunting also had strict laws so meat was more or less a treat for them.

So Mercury was similar to what Earth would have been like if humans never existed, Raph told himself. It was a bizarre concept. What were even the odds of there being another world almost equal to Earth? _Or him ending up stuck on it…_

Raph wondered if their laws were also a reason why Falla bought him as a pet since she couldn't own any local ones or any alien animals that could escape into the wild…

On second thought he no longer liked their nature preserving laws. He could hardly believe Fallachis would go so far out of her way just to have something to pet and cuddle. He didn't really believe it.

"What are you thinking about?" Fallachis smiled at him and gently nudged him with her elbow once she realized he wasn't following her anymore.

"My brothers," Raphael immediately blurted just to spite her.

He was satisfied to see her smile replaced by a disappointed frown and her shoulders sink. She didn't respond and silently turned back to the history book.

Raph's brief satisfaction slowly faded and his eyes lowered. He didn't know what was worse: Her wanting to make him feel bad about it, or the fact that she thought it would work! Why was it actually working!?

"You need to stop being so negative."

Raph agreed but not for the reasons she had in mind. "You're right. They'll probably find me any day now."

Falla's frown turned into an annoyed one. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! – You have everything right here. What else do you need?"

How could she say that! "I _need_ my brothers to take me as far away from you as possible! You're evil!"

"You don't mean that!"

"Of course I do!" How freaking lost was she? "You do whatever you want with me and believe whatever you want, but I'll never change my opinion on you and everything you're doing! I hate you!" He pointed an accusing finger at her which Fallachis immediately completely covered with her grip.

"There are ways to permanently change that, too. Not that I'm considering it _yet,"_ she warned sharply, not liking his rising tone one bit.

She always had to remind him what complete control she had over him.

The woman let go of his hand. "I'm not so horrible to see that as the first option. – _The Absent Breeze however…"_

"Stop it! Just stop." Raphael already lost that fight. Proving something wouldn't get him anything. "I'll be quiet, just don't drug me again. Okay?" He frowned then hugged his legs closer, seeking closure. Nothing was getting drastically worse, but every minute that passed on this planet felt ten times worse and more suffocating than the previous one.

…

"Hey, Maika, someone's calling you!" Vnukinya called from the doorway and interrupted whatever Fallachis wanted to say or do next to justify or color the truth to her liking.

The woman wavered on the couch for a moment, straining her combination of gills and ears to pick up a distant sound of a ringtone. She got up and passed Kinya who was making her way into the room.

"Did you unpack everything already?" she asked on the way.

"Not yet," Kinya shrugged and took a long sip from her wide tea mug while her feet carried her up to Raphael.

 _"Ooh-tee,"_ she gasped once she stopped right in front of the boy and took another loud sip of mint tea. "You look like someone peed on you."

Raph looked up at her from where he sat hugging himself, and his eyes narrowed. "How the heck does that look?"

"Pathetic and feeling sorry for yourself."

Raphael was actually taken aback by the blunt answer.

"And now you're red in the face. Complimentary colors. – _Nice,"_ Vnukinya smiled teasingly then plopped down on Falla's spot and shook the couch. – "What's going on? Having a hard time settling down?"

When she didn't receive a reaction other than continuous scowling at the other side of the room, she prodded his tiny shoulder with the tip of her blunt claw. "Huh?"

And again. _"Hm?"_

Raphael practically dug his head in his shell from irritation. His arms were crossed and tense, hardly containing him from exploding.

"You look like a tiny turtle-olm mixture. Also kind of like a pea. – _Aaand_ you probably don't know what I'm talking about…

"Don't worry, you're adorable. In case you thought I was saying you're weird. I mean, you are a little weird, _duh,_ but it's like 'cute weird'. You know, like some cartoony drawing styles of characters that are really strange but olm adore them, but if you saw anyone looking like that in real life you'd run away from her. Except that you are real. Never mind what I said.

"…And are you going to say anything or not?"

…

Eventually Vnukinya exhaled and slumped back into the cushions. _"Uh, Maika, you weren't wrong when you said she's stubborn…"_ she muttered to herself.

Raph suddenly couldn't ignore her any longer and growled. "I'm _not_ a girl!"

"Hello. What's that? Is this still about the pronoun thing?"

The frustrated scowl and flushed cheeks were all Kinya needed to confirm it and laugh out loud. "Ha! You are _so_ precious!" She pinched his cheek then let him go, no thanks to his struggles.

"Back off!" he warned when Kinya was already standing up, fetching a piece of paper and a pen from a desk at the end of the room.

She plopped back down on her spot beside him, placed the mug on the floor and used one of the history books as support for the paper.

"Let me explain something to you so you don't get angry at an empty nothing. – There's… _uhh…_ well there's a bunch of third person pronouns and noun classes in Govarian _– our language._ We have around forty primary ones, I believe, and I think your collar is translating most of them with the same one from your language – _which is kind of concerning, to be honest with you."_

Kinya scribbled down something on the paper in a fancy cursive alphabet Raph recognized from the books. "This says _'she'_ and it's used strictly for all Originals unrelated to you," she explained, tapping the word with the pen. Then she wrote down a word with a different beginning but same ending. "And this says _'she'_ and is a basic pronoun we use for unrelated clones or other people." She was writing down more words as she spoke. _"'She'_ is for your Original. I use it for Maika; _'She'_ is used by Originals to address their first generation clones; while _'she'_ is used for the second generation clones which Maika uses for me; and _'she'_ you use to refer to all the other relatives; Oh, and _'she'_ is for your friends; And this one says _'she'_ and it's for female animals or animals in general; and this one's _'he',_ for male animals; this one says _'it'_ for plants – there used to be two pronouns for them at some point I think; But there's also _'it'_ for trees; And this one," she pointed at the next word, "says _'it'_ and is used for objects you can hold; While _'it'_ is for the objects that you can't; But _'it'_ is for objects that you can get inside of. Like a house or clothes; Also _'it'_ for food; and _'it'_ for liquids. – There's more but I don't want to go on forever and talk about God or abstract concepts, and their pronouns, and also grammatical numbers and cases, and how all these pronouns have even more pronouns depending on your attitude and whether you think of the noun as something good or bad, and so on, because you would miss the point.

"What I'm saying is," she continued, seeing the boy's confused face from the quick slap of information, "that I use the basic clone pronoun for you while Maika uses the male animal pronoun. If you still want me to switch _– Sure! –_ I'll do it. But I doubt you'd like that, hmm, Elly?"

Raphael decided that learning was his new least favorite thing to do. There was an empty, cold feeling inside him, alien and far worse than any fiery turmoil he often experienced. He hated it. Even more than the know-it-all look Vnukinya was giving him. She told him this just to amuse herself. Her using a different pronoun didn't change where he stood in all of their eyes. Which made it even worse.

Without a response he jumped off the couch and left while Kinya watched after him and chewed on the mint leaves from her tea.

"Where are you going?"

Raph didn't answer and walked into the hall then towards the glass backdoor near the morning room which lead outside if he remembered right. …He needed air.

Getting the door to open was a task of its own when even the extra "pet" handle was out of his reach. At least he wasn't degraded into using pet flaps.

On the fourth jump Raph finally got the handle in the correct position and then somehow managed to pull open the balcony door in between the last jump.

He stepped into the chill outside and shivered.

Bright pink and orange colors draped the scarce clouds and mountain peaks while the light blue sky above him was starting to darken. A few lonely stars already began to shine through.

Raph sat down on the end of the patio where a couple of stairs lead down into the gardens. His feet hung over the top step not even close to touching the next one. The flagstone was freezing cold against his skin and the texture was rougher too, proportionately with the size difference, but he ignored it for the moment.

The songbirds were starting to be loud in the trees before nighttime and didn't allow him as much peace as he'd liked.

The third day away from his family was coming to an end. At least the third day he was aware of… A very long day, too…

He had never been away from his brothers for that long. – Which was a weird thought he got stuck on. – He had really never parted with them for more than a few hours before this.

Leo must have been going crazy by then. Hopefully Mikey wasn't. Raph couldn't stand his younger brothers worried. But Donnie definitely was. Donnie probably grasped the situation best of all four of them. Raph only hoped that it didn't look useless and that they really were going to show up soon.

The aliens were driving him nuts and freaking him out. Punching and kicking was making him feel pathetic and even more powerless than he was so he didn't try it anymore. He didn't even feel like getting angry anymore – despite still getting so unintentionally. – Falla was glued to him at all times and fussing about it was burning him out quickly.

He had constant headaches. He ached all over because of his heavier weight. And he was so freaking cold all the time, on the verge of trembling at the moment. It was colder now outside and so late but Falla's house wasn't much better. The only warm things were the aliens and Raph wondered if that was one of Falla's sneaky plans to get him to cling to her more.

He was so sickened by her.

Why couldn't he have gotten imprisoned by the Triceratons? At least there would be some sense of purpose behind that…

There would also be some connection to his whereabouts.

Raphael's fingers curled around a pebble they found at the edge where the rough stone met soil. He flung it across the garden where it got lost in a taller patch of grass. It didn't fly as far as it should.

 _Why me of all people?_

He wanted to scream.

"You shouldn't be outside alone at this time."

And there she was, right behind him. Why did he think he would get any peace this time?

"There are a lot of predators awake around the forest at dusk. It's not safe for you."

Falla stepped closer to the unresponsive turtle and sat down beside him.

"Hey," she said gently. "I hope you don't think I'm angry with you."

How was she this good at acting and switching everything around? She looked and sounded completely genuine, concerned and serene. It was becoming so hard to remember she wasn't… Raph was sure she was aware of what she was doing to him. She wasn't stupid.

Raphael only batted an eye in her direction for a second while pulling his leg up to his chest and leaning against it.

She continued: "It was stupid of me to say what I said. I knew you didn't mean what you said either but words and actions still hurt sometimes. However I didn't react much better. – Please understand I'd never do anything to hurt you."

"You use the animal pronoun for me," Raphael muttered into his arm and finally looked at her. He finally had something new to throw at her.

Falla leaned forward to better see him, too. "What do you mean?"

"You address me with the male pronoun for animals."

"I know that. I don't see where the problem is."

"I'm a tur-! …I'm a _person."_

"You're not."

Raphael's eyes widened momentarily before he looked back down the stairs. – _Of course he wasn't…_

…

Fallachis laid a gentle, comforting hand on his back, covered his whole shell with it, with the tips of her fingers and claws hooking around his small shoulders and neck.

 _Mine._ – That's what it really stated. More precisely: _My dog, my slave,_ – Whatever he was, he wasn't equal to her. He was something she claimed and owned.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, Fallachis watching the sunset happening somewhere beyond the trees but Raph only staring at the space in front of him while her hand continued to weigh him down.

"Tomorrow should be interesting. I don't think I've told you that I had invited our neighbors for a little welcome party for Hchee and Vnukinya. Kinya doesn't know anyone from around here. – Although she doesn't seem very thrilled about the party."

She eventually pulled her hand back to her side.

…

"Are you cold?" she asked after a while as it began to darken.

"No."

"You're shivering. – Come on." She stood up and led his hand up, too.

"You're in need of a bath and it'll warm you up."

Raphael's step wavered, already dreading the inevitable. "You're not bathing me…"

"It's not like it'll be the first time."

Raph had been struggling to keep to himself but that was the last straw. "No!"

Falla lifted him from the ground before he could even begin to pull back.

 **xXVXx**


	27. Overload

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Voting is now open in the fanfiction competition. I hope you've found and read some good stories in the past month that have been nominated and hope to win the competition. Go help them out. :)

 _Pikachucutie17_ said that she can't believe I managed to make a bath into a cliffhanger in the last chapter. It made me laugh! XD

Raph is really struggling with his predicament, causing him to have a lot of a-tipical mood swings, and I hope it's coming across as believable...

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twenty-Seven**

 **Overload**

This was his fate now: Getting petted, cuddled, fed, and cleaned.

Raph wasn't just treated like a child, it was worse than that. – The woman had the mentality of messed up humans who call their pets their babies and claim to be their parents. Raph was a person in the role of a _dog_ and treated like an incapable child.

He still felt disgust from being bathed by Falla the day before, before going to bed, and how she had to place him on the toilet seat because there was "no way" he could do it himself.

He was degraded and violated. And it wouldn't stop.

Raph continued to stare at the ceiling with a blank, lost expression as tears finally, slowly reached his dry eyes. He really was never going to see his family again… They had to save Earth and everyone on it. They wouldn't look for him forever. They couldn't afford that…

If they did, then… _"Dad…"_ Just now, stripped away from his brothers, he had really started to miss his father, too. He was starting to miss everything that he had convinced himself he hadn't before, just because there was no longer anyone familiar to lean onto to suppress that feeling.

"You're still thinking about your past life, aren't you?"

His murky eyes dropped to the side, to Fallachis Maika where she lay on the bed by his side and had been watching him through the dimness ever since he had woken both of them up. She looked sad but he couldn't care. He had tried really, _really_ hard to ignore her. He had no wish of talking with her, or seeing her…

Instead of answering, he rolled on his side, his back towards her, but not before Falla saw a single tear escape and run down his face in the dark room.

She propped herself up on her elbow, loomed over his small frame and gently wiped his wet cheek with the knuckle of her index finger.

Raph tried to remain unresponsive to the gentle, affectionate touch – but couldn't. He turned further away and buried his face into the pillow in case more tears would spill over.

He wanted his brothers and father! He wanted to wake up home in his own bed and know that his family was outside the door like always. He wanted for this to stop!

Closing his eyes, he tried to calm down his pounding heart and imagine himself lying on his bed at home. But the pillow was too soft, the fabric felt different, the smell was wrong and the gravity was pushing his weight down too hard. Everything was wrong…

He felt Fallachis lay her enormous hand over his shoulder and he choked up. Why couldn't she go away and leave him alone for at least a little while? The woman was taking the safest and dearest type of relationship and making him frightened of it. He didn't know how to properly react without triggering anything worse. But he also didn't want to surrender to it. It always crept too deep – became too private – until he couldn't breathe anymore.

Fallachis watched Raphael curled into the pillow, unsettlingly still and silent. The sight was tearing a part of her heart that was starting to feel the unfairness of what she was doing. – Something that she successfully ignored whenever she could. But this time her child wasn't a de-aged slave with no clear memories to hold onto. Raphael's pain wasn't caused by confusion and subconscious unfamiliarity – it was clear and real and it was breaking him down.

 _She wanted a challenge and she got it…_

"Let's make a deal," she whispered not to wake the other two still sleeping on the other side of the wide bed, and nudged him. "Turn around and look at me."

Raphael eventually rolled over not even trying to hide the misery on his face as his half closed eyes locked with hers in the dim room.

"If your brothers find their way here, I'll give you back to them without persuasion or payment. I won't deny and hide your presence here. Promise."

 _"If"_ your brothers find their way… There was no guarantee. There would never be any. But that "if" was all Raphael could cling to. It was his only hope and it tore at him how nothing he could do could help him get home faster. He was completely dependent on his family and Fugitoid to rescue him. And even that rescue had been fated to an "if" the moment he had been pushed into the van on Niktikleptis.

Raph silently nodded at Falla, wishing he could be grateful for her decision but knowing she wouldn't have made it if he had any chance of ever seeing home again. He was only horrified to learn she was willing to hide him from his brothers before. _Of course she was…_ She wanted to justify her cruelness and present herself like a reasonable being by saying she could be even worse…

He rolled back on his side and balled up.

 _…_

 _If…_

Maybe he still would see home. Maybe his brothers would show up one day and throw all his despair out the window.

But how could they…?

"I know it's hard. You have been behaving so well, and I see you're putting effort into getting better, but you need to _relax_ a bit, too," Fallachis rubbed his shoulder before hugging and pulling him closer.

"I'd never allow anything to happen to you. You know I love you."

Raphael felt frozen in place. His skin bristled, his face paled up, and he swallowed down a miserable cry. Every muscle in his body was strained, hardly holding him back from kicking and hollering and then coming off as the world's most obnoxious runt.

He couldn't breathe.

He couldn't _breathe._

"I'll be busy with the guests today but I think you'll still have fun stuff to do."

Falla cuddled Raphael like a lifeless teddy bear until early-morning sunlight slowly reached the bedroom windows and the first birds awoke.

She eventually rose, telling him he didn't need to get up yet, and left with the intention of getting everything prepared early.

Raphael only continued to lie in place, trapping himself in his depressed mind with the wish of blocking out everything that was being done to him. He had already found out he couldn't change anything. So what he had left was trying to ignore it so it wouldn't make him go insane.

He wiped the remaining tears that thankfully didn't fall from his eyes. _It's only been three days. Just three days. No one can travel through space in three days. Just give them time. They'll come…_

 _The days here are longer so it's really been more than three days._

 _But that just means they'll come really soon._

 _They need to find me…_

The mattress curved under him as a giant body moved under the bedding in front and rolled over to face him.

"Hey El," Vnukinya yawned, her sleepy eyes gradually taking in his broken expression.

Her arm moved and Raph squeezed his eyes shut, preparing himself for more unwelcome stroking. He was surprised to feel her large hand over his tiny one and squeezing it lightly.

"If it makes you feel any better, this day is going to suck a lot for me, too."

xXx

Raphael spent his forenoon sitting on the kitchen island counter, watching Falla preparing a dozen different snacks and pastries, while scribbling over her already used checklist. He had calmed down since his morning breakdown, pretended it never happened, and pushed down his self-pity that wasn't doing him any good. Vnukinya was right for calling him out on it the day before – although Raph didn't dislike her any less because of it.

He was practically stuffed from all the food the woman had him try before midday rolled around and they both heard the doorbell ring.

Raph's head snapped up from where he was drawing a cartoony version of Leonardo squishing a Kraang under his foot and saying something pathetically heroic in a speech bubble just to humor himself. – _God, was he bored!_

"Punctual as always." Falla wiped her arms in her apron then picked Raphael up and placed him on the floor outside the kitchen. "Go tell the other two the guests arrived."

Raphael watched Fallachis' legs move towards the front door but didn't wait for her to reach it. He bolted up the staircase out of sight, but then casually walked the long rest of the way to the third floor where he found Hchee and Vnukinya making a ruckus in one of the rooms that were locked on his first day here. He stopped in the doorway and quietly watched them putting back together an old dresser they brought from their old place.

"Hey, El." Hchee soon noticed him and offered him a quick smile before focusing back on drilling in a new screw for a drawer.

Raphael stepped into the room when the other olm turned around to see him, too.

"We're just fixing up this place into Kinya's room."

"I thought you all sleep on one bed," Raphael muttered and looked around the new place. There wasn't much to see as all the furniture and luggage was just laid out everywhere for the time.

"We do," Vnukinya said as she leaned down to pick something from a toolbox. "But that's just the bedroom. This room is going to be for me – for my stuff."

…

"Some people just came over and Falla told me to come get you."

"Is it already noon?"

"We've been doing this forever!" Vnukinya complained.

"We already put up all of my furniture. We've done a lot already. – Let's just finish this dresser and then go downstairs."

…

Raphael was sent back down to tell Maika they'd only be a few more minutes. Just as the turtle reached the last flight of stairs the doorbell rang again. He crouched down on the third step from above and cautiously watched the room below through the handrail.

There were at least two dozen giant pink aliens already there in the foyer chatting with each other and more were stepping inside.

Raphael couldn't make out Falla from the crowd and he immediately backtracked to the top of the stairs where he was completely out of sight. He didn't know so many people were arriving! It explained all the food – _but still!_ It felt so surreal and _…scary …_

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other while deciding whether to go downstairs or not. He suddenly understood Casey when he had told him he didn't like leaving his room when his mom or dad had guests over… Raph was so frustrated with himself!

In the end he sat down on the carpeted floor and leaned on the wall. There was no way he was going down there.

After a while of just dumbly sitting in the hallway, getting lost in his head thinking of impossible imaginary escape plans, Raph realized he couldn't hear anymore chit-chat-chittering. He carefully moved and leaned to see over the stairs to the floor below again. The foyer was empty but he could hear some faint noises coming from the back of the house.

They moved into the yard, Raph thought as he slowly descended the stairs. He made his way towards the back door, following the noise but being careful not to run into anyone that might still be inside. He could make out a muffled radio playing under all the fast excited blabbering of the large group of giant feminine aliens.

As he reached the back door he moved to the side to a window and peered across it. There were at least thirty people outside scattered over the patio, on woven sofas and chairs. Where the heck all these neighbors were from and what the heck Falla defined as "neighbor" were questions beyond him.

The pink aliens looked too alike for his liking. The alien features were too prominent for him to be able to quickly distinguish the more subtle differences between them. The only noticeable differences were the differently tangled hairstyles and clothes. – All of them wore leotards under their garments, all families in matching color combinations like some kind of family flags, as if the freaky identical clone faces weren't a good enough clue for that. – Although he didn't complain as it finally helped him locate Falla in her white and blue leotard and green sweater standing by a pair of clones in yellow and green colors sitting on a sofa.

"Whoa," he heard a voice right above him and immediately looked up.

"There's so many olm outside! Elly, hold my hand!" Kinya immediately grabbed the turtle's entire forearm and yanked him closer.

 _"Ow!"_ – How did they sneak up on him!? Even _he_ couldn't be this silent!

Hchee soon intervened. "Kinya stop being so silly."

She took the grinning girl's hand off of him and pulled her towards the back door just as Maika, who had noticed them through the window, rushed through it.

"Where were you? Everyone's already here."

"We were just finishing Kinya's dresser. Didn't El tell you?"

All three pairs of eyes turned towards the turtle and Raphael literally wanted to run away at that moment if that wouldn't have been even more pathetic.

Falla hummed something that sounded a tad judgmental to Raph's ears but didn't say anything over it.

His cheeks turned red.

"Well, come on, some are impatient to see you," she pulled Kinya along a step just as the girl wanted to flick Raph across the forehead and call him something like a "scaredy cat".

Maika offered the young clone a quick, unamused glare before hurrying back outside to catch up with the waiting guests. "Hchee and Vnukinya come meet my lovely neighborhood," she called from the patio to get everyone's attention.

Hchee immediately walked forward but Vnukinya followed behind rather reluctantly.

Raphael stayed watching from the safety of the inside, behind the doorframe, trying to avoid attention for as long as he could. _Before Falla drags me in the middle and makes me do dog tricks,_ he thought bitterly, but curiously observed all the aliens in the yard. They were all facing the same direction now, and he could get a better look at them. He began to notice more differences between their faces. They weren't so awfully alike after all. The Fallas had a very prominent jawline and chin in comparison with the rest, pointier noses and fuller lips. While one family had sharper eyes and flatter, shorter noses and a shorter figure, another had much longer faces, rounder lips and heavily sunburned skin. …

Fallachis Maika suddenly began the long introduction of everyone. "These are my Third of First, Fallachis Hchee, and my First of Second, Fallachis Vnukinya.

"Clones," she addressed the two, then began to count off while the two followed without a problem, "these are Polyachis Matehchka, Rasiatis Matooshka, Belsuris Matsyarinka, Bossnis Mahtee, Chechkis Matka, Neeaookis Mat, Hertskis Maycheena, Seriabis Mikeetsa, Chrnogoris Mahmeetsa, Madekonis Maykatah, Slonehvis Maamtsa, and Boglaris Mamohchka who just recently became an Original."

"You can call me Ma if you want," one answered with a smile.

 _Can I call you all Ma?!_ Raphael thought, bewildered and partly horrified by the similar sounding names.

"And their Firsts: Polyachis Tsoorka, Rasiatis Dochyenka and Dochoorka, Belsuris Dachka, Bossnis Kcherkah Second, Chechkis Tsera, Neeaookis Dochka, Slivakis Tsehrah, Hertskis Kchea Second, Seriabis Cherka and Cherkeatsa, Madekonis Kerka, Boglaris Dooshterya and Dooshterichka, and Slonehvis Hchehrka.

"And the Seconds: Polyachis Wnoochka, Rasiatis Vnoochyenka, Bossnis Oonookah, Madekonis Vnukata, and Slonehvis Vnuchkeetsah."

 _Is pronouncing names considered a type of torture on this planet!?_

Raph's head suddenly began to hurt again. He had already made a step back to leave when Falla noticed him hiding behind the doorframe. Her gaze focused on him and she gave a knowing smile.

 _No, no, no!_

He dashed away through the house, toward the stairs but the giant quickly caught up on her long legs. She grasped his arm and began to lead him back out. "Come on, El, no one bites."

"I really don't want to!"

"You'll just say hello and then we'll leave you alone."

Raph offered her an unimpressed frown. They both knew that would not be the case. He was going to be the exotic pet at a posh Victorian garden party… "That's not true!"

"I promise. – Just behave, alright?"

And so, as they stepped outside, the women who weren't talking with Maika's two clones all crowded up to them and surrounded Raph like a pack of hungry animals. The wide-eyed looks he was receiving varied from adoration to some weird fascination to disgusted scrunched faces observing him in the same way some humans would. Raph had to strain himself to prevent himself from getting too worked up about it. He didn't need to care about their opinion – he only had to care about Falla who was watching him like he was being tested.

The younger olm, the ones who seemed like Kinya's peers, were giving him the nastiest looks but he thankfully didn't hold their interest for long, as they moved over to the youngest Fallachis instead.

The olm who _"aww-ed"_ at his presence were the most annoying, asking three hundred questions, all directed at Falla, even the latest one that asked whether he could speak or even understand them.

"Can I?" Raph deadpanned but was surprisingly ignored for the rude comment. Only Falla frowned at him for it, and he continued to be fawned over.

Instead of being able to go back inside, he ended up sitting in one of the women's laps as he had predicted. He did his best to ignore the circular movement of her blunt claws against his shell and only bothered to stare at Fallachis across from them with the nastiest I-told-you-so look he could muster.

Falla seemed uncomfortable enough for him to feel some satisfaction over his pathetic situation, but she didn't stop him and continued with the conversation the olm were having.

It was mostly about gardening… – At least Raph thought so. He wasn't sure and he couldn't follow very easily without focusing on it. The women used many phrases and idioms with each other that he didn't know at all, and he only began to realize how carefully the three Fallachis picked their words when speaking to him. The longer the olm spoke the less he could understand them.

"In my time I've not yet seen such an unusual beyond-worlder. God made your path from only paintings of roses, Fallachis. Will you pour in her the knowledge of gardening for an answer of returned help or is her purpose merely ornamental? – The drought is wandering and might stumble into the highlands, too. Hands are golden where earth needs assistance."

"The beast could strip the berry bushes with her small fingers. Even the ones protected with thorns and intended for faeries."

"The belief in me is she is not meant to survive in our forests. God protect, a hawk does not snatch her!"

"You've slid behind my teeth and just as well gazed at the bottom of my yesterday's tea," Fallachis laughed. "Work will not fit into his hands, they are still too much like silk. He has not yet settled well as his heart still longs for the past times. However young trees always bend."

Raph had a headache again…

…

"I am First of First Chechkis Tsera," a kid alien, suddenly standing beside him, announced loudly after a while. "Come play teatime with me!"

The olm petting Raph lowered him to his feet upon the girl's demand.

Raphael looked up at the young child still standing four feet taller than him. He really didn't want to be bothered more but he had a feeling this one was going to holler if he didn't comply.

"If Leo's not here," he shrugged his arms and let her lead him away and sit him down by the edge of the patio where she had her own wooden tea set already lying out.

"You talk funny," she clarified and offered him a cup.

It slowly dawned on Raph the olm couldn't understand him. The kid kept having a more or less one-sided conversation with him and completely misinterpreted his answers. And the other olm had ignored his answers, too…

The girl was roleplaying with him and he couldn't figure out what part he was playing. Her speech slowly sounded more and more obscure until some sentences didn't even function. His headache had been very quickly increasing until it was impossible to ignore. The chatter of everyone talking in the background accompanied by a radio starting to play an old-fashioned-sounding ballad with lyrics began to be more and more bothersome. Raphael could feel his collar was heating up while it worked to translate every single word that reached his ears.

 _*Between the stars, night and day – spins and spins this world._

 _*Without a pause – the planet dances.*_

The song, which someone turned louder, morphed into a chilling kerfuffle as the collar continuously tricked his brain into thinking the translated words he was hearing rhymed and flowed with the melody.

 _*Falls the snow, fall the months and again fall comes._

 _*For thousands of years – the planet dances._

 _*Fall the snows, fall the years and she never falls._

 _*It spins without rotation in the garden._

 _*In each of their castles - each cloud._

 _*On all roads._

 _*Even our little house, so proud.*_

"Gah," Raphael grabbed his temples and scrunched his eyes shut. He felt like he was experiencing a brain freeze.

"Your being is in order?" the little girl turned worried.

Vnukinya showed up out of nowhere, having noticed Raph's anguished face by chance. She touched Raph's collar before pulling him up. "Child, without worries. In my own arms I her am claiming. Tree tar beside her is. You Fallachis Maika of my of her upstairs taking of some showers inform," she ordered before walking inside with the turtle clinging to her.

Raphael was pressing his forehead against her shoulder as hard as he could to somehow decrease the pain. His collar had really started to overheat and it was doing a number on his brain. Just stepping inside, away from the noise was like a blessing. The headache was still there but his brain didn't feel like it was being prodded by literal words and sentences.

Vnukinya carried Raphael all the way to the last floor, into the bedroom and dropped him on the bed rather roughly then plopped down beside him.

The turtle instantly pulled his legs close and wrapped his arms around them. He was grateful to get away from the noise for a while to clear his head, but he doubted Kinya brought him all the way up there just because of that.

After a moment she spoke up in clear English again.

"That group of youth is really freaking unpleasant to be around. I guess the mountains really effect an olm's perception…"

So that was it: The teenager with social anxiety around her own peers… "What are you? The self-conscious only-child?" Raphael deadpanned while massaging his forehead.

Kinya offered him a very unimpressed look. "Look! She learned new words _and_ has a personality."

Raphael scowled. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?!"

The girl huffed but said nothing as she lay with her arms crossed under her head and sunk in the soft pillows. She kicked her left leg lazily over the edge of the bed and stared at the ceiling with a serious thinking face.

She didn't speak for minutes and Raphael's head was slowly clearing up. He didn't even care about her presence or think of making it awkward, and took the opportunity to get some needed rest.

Twenty minutes could have easily passed when Vnukinya spoke up out of nowhere and Raph realized she had been mulling over something all this time.

"Maika _does_ seem like she has honey on her tongue and ice in her heart sometimes but she's actually pretty kind and genuine for an Original if you give her a chance," she said as if answering an unspoken question.

Raph had thought they were just going to ignore each other forever. He frowned in annoyance but listened.

"I mean all Originals are pretty controlling if you ask me, so you can't expect her to _not_ be like that sometimes. And she's totally pardoned for some of it. I mean, she lost her first two clones when she was pretty young. That's like the worst thing that can happen to someone…

"Hchee told me she turned into a full-on control freak after that. She had to practically run away from this house when she had grown up because Maika wouldn't let her do anything on her own.

"It's why I didn't live here either. – But it's better now. You should be-"

"Stop."

Kinya rolled around onto her stomach to better see El. "Why?"

"Because I don't care. I don't want to hear you making up excuses for her."

"I'm not- You _should_ care! – It really fucking sucks, _huh, El?"_ Kinya deadpanned. "One minute you're rolling around with your friends and in the next you're stuck here with a bunch of strangers. But smoldering everything inside won't change the fact that this is where you are now."

Raphael could hardly believe it! "Are- Are you trying to compare your situation with mine!?"

"I'm trying to find some common ground and someone to talk to."

Raph's frown deepened. "I'm not going to listen to your problems."

"I'm talking about _you,_ El. _You_ need someone to talk to. I see you have about a thousand things to say and ask, but you barely really _speak_ with Maika. You just holler and cry and scowl when it's not how you want it. – Pesky flies never live long."

"I don't want to talk with her! Or you!"

Vnukinya ignored the loud pitch of his comment and rolled back onto her back. "You should. Only a decent communication is going to make your life easier."

Raphael watched her do a shoulder stand and try to reach the ceiling with her toes. She wasn't even close. After a while she dropped herself back onto the bed like a falling timber and shook the whole mattress making Raphael roll back on his carapace.

"Do what you want with my proposition. You can ignore it and continue feeling sorry for yourself but a sparrow in hand is better than a dove on the roof."

Raph skeptically watched the girl spread over the mattress. What was up with her? – "You're just bored aren't you?"

"I'm bored. But I'm not _just_ bored," Kinya smirked. "Sometimes you need to hear things that you just don't want to."

"And sometimes you need to get away from freaky teenagers?" Raph found himself smirking back momentarily.

"What are teenagers?"

 _"Um…"_ Raph scratched his hand. "You know…" he looked around as if he was going to find the definition written somewhere, "kids and adults between twelve and twenty years of age."

"There aren't any toddlers here." Kinya looked at him weirdly and Raph soon did, too. – "How old do you think I am?"

Raph shrugged. He thought he had an idea but he was practically clueless.

Kinya pulled herself up to sitting. "I'm 86."

"You're 86 years old!?" Raph almost choked on his spit.

"Of course! Do I look like a little kid to you?"

 _Closer to that than an eighty-year-old!_ "How old is Falla then?"

"You mean Maika right? You're being really confusing about that, you know? – I actually don't know exactly. She's in her 28th decade."

"What!?" That was an insanely old age! And Raph was sure their years were longer just like their days, too. And Falla probably wasn't even old for an olm. She must have been middle aged or something… Though that could be wrong, too. Raphael initially thought she was in human early thirties or somewhere around there, not a grandparent…

Vnukinya's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh my God, El, how old are you?!"

"…Sixteen."

"What!?" she laughed. "You're practically an infant!"

"Shut up! You're a grandma!"

"I don't know what that is and I really don't want to!"

She shifted in her spot and smiled lightly after they quieted, "See, El, this can be alright."

Raph finally looked at the girl as something that wasn't a constant threat to his very existence. His grudge was with Falla. Vnukinya had practically nothing to do with it and she really was just trying to help him, even if it was in her weird, slightly selfish, annoying way.

"A dog _is_ an olm's best friend. Is that what you're implying?" he tried to be clever.

"You really need to stop using all these words I don't understand."

"A dog?" Raph looked at her funny. "…A domesticated wolf."

"Domesticated wolf. – That's rich! Haha! – You don't even look like a wolf. You're more like a weird turtle person."

"I am a turtle."

"Seriously?" Kinya straightened her back. "But not a real turtle. You don't know what a turtle is."

"We have turtles where I come from. …And everything else you have for that matter. This place is just like my planet. Just everything resized five times."

"I've heard of mirror planets. – That must be pretty annoying, huh?"

"I have bigger things to worry about at the moment…"

"And who's half to blame?" Kinya chuckled and Raph offered her a wild and offended look.

In the next moment the bedroom door opened and caught them off guard. It revealed Hchee poking through. "There you two are," the woman smiled while Raph's small smile completely vanished. "I thought I heard you laughing from the floor below."

"You did," Kinya grinned. "I took Raph up to get some space and clear his head. He had a disastrous headache."

"Is that so?" Hchee walked up to them. "How are you feeling, little one?"

"Fine," Raph answered with the returned uptight voice. But then he quietly added, "I think my translator overheated."

 _"Hmm…_ I'll tell Maika to look it over. Is it fine now?"

"Yes."

Hchee smiled at him reassuringly, the same way Maika would, but it just didn't feel as demeaning, then she looked up to face Vnukinya. "I talked Maika into letting you go for a hike with the other youth tomorrow evening."

Kinya eyes widened and she immediately jumped to her feet, alert, and with horror written across her face. "You did what!?"

"All the Originals agreed that it'll be great for you. You'll also get to explore the new landscape a bit. The youth all agreed to it."

"Oh God, Hchee, but they are so _bad!"_ Vnukinya whined in the same way Raphael was used to hearing from his younger brothers.

"You need to make some new friends here. – Get to know some other Seconds your age."

 _"Hchee!"_ Kinya was completely red in the face. – "They're like the bad kids! You don't want me hanging with the _bad_ kids. Come on!"

"You're overreacting. They're nice kids. We can't cancel the date because you now decided you're going to be introverted. You'll make our identity look bad."

"You're terrible!"

"And you're going! And that's final," Hchee's eyebrows had lowered in a way already familiar to Raphael.

Vnukinya knew she wasn't going to win this fight by screaming. "It's really unfair of you to decide this for me. You could have easily called me outside for my opinion," she grumbled. "I don't want to go with them alone. They all know each other and I don't know anyone. Do you even know how stupid I'll feel?"

"Then take El with you. You obviously get along."

"No, we don't," Raphael jumped to his feet, too, although it didn't add much to his height even while standing on the bed. He had no desire of hanging out with any more aliens!

"That's… actually not a bad idea," Kinya slowly nodded.

"It's a terrible idea!"

"Don't be such a sour puss, El! You'll be like a conversation starter. You'll tell some breeder facts to entertain them."

 _Breeder facts!?_ – "I won't!"

"You will because I'm not going alone and that's final," Kinya repeated Hchee's authoritative voice then smirked smugly.

 **xXVXx**


	28. Reformation

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Today's the last chance to vote in the fanfic competition for anyone who wanted to and forgot. _ht"tps:"/"/our-secret-lair." com/readers-choice-awards/_

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twenty-Eight**

 **Reformation**

"It's not your fault you came here now when there's so much going on in this family. I'm sorry if I wasn't paying much attention to you yesterday. My head was in so many places at once." Fallachis Maika placed a small plate with two open sandwiches and a tea mug on the coffee table in front of Raphael who was propped up on two embroidered throw pillows on the floor and leaning against the polished wooden surface.

"'Mm fine, Falla," Raph yawned into his hand and took the late breakfast. – Yesterday's party had lasted long after sunset and Raphael had been left to sleep in in the morning.

Vnukinya was lying with her back on the shorter part of an L-shaped couch, on Raphael's left, and was reading a book while Hchee was sitting on the carpet between them and leaning back into the longer part of the couch behind them. She had a bunch of magazines and papers laid out on the coffee table and was going over them while making notes on a small electronic notepad.

"How's the job search going?" Maika asked her before sitting down on the couch right behind the boy.

"Not good," the clone admitted. "But I'm not doing that at the moment. I'm preparing the first Govarian lesson for El. – Teaching about a language and teaching the actual language is definitely not the same song."

Raph's eyes finally wandered to the papers where he mostly noticed charts with alphabets and short sentences in clear large writing. _Great… just what he needed…_

Minutes passed with Raphael slowly eating his breakfast and the two olm talking about some adult things he couldn't follow when Vnukinya suddenly lifted herself up from having her flat nose even more flattened by the book. "Oh, right! Maika, I almost forgot to ask you if El can come with me for the hike tonight?"

"Oh?" the woman smiled, "I was actually going to propose the same thing."

"That's great!" She plopped back into the cushions.

Hchee turned around to look at her Original. "Really? But you were so reluctant about just Kinya going, yesterday."

"I was, but I slept on it. It'll be good for her and I believe it'll be good for El to hang with some other olm besides me, too." She stroked the top of the turtle's head before picking up his empty plate and heading to wash it in the kitchen.

Raphael watched her leave before looking at Vnukinya ungratefully who just grinned in return and focused back on her book. She was so annoying!

Hchee pushed a card with a writing system on it in front of him and stole his attention as she scooted closer. "Let's learn the alphabet.

"Here," she handed him a large pencil and instructed him to make notes in his own language for help in the beginning. She then pointed at the first sign with her left hand but pulled up her right one which clutched the remote for his collar.

"What are you doing with that?" Raph immediately demanded.

"I'll just be turning off your translation option whenever I'll need you to listen to Govarian and repeat after me."

Raphael eased back and nodded then began to follow the woman through their insanely long cursive alphabet. Thankfully they used an alphabet and not something Raphael would need a hundred years to wrap his head around.

Kinya watched the bizarre remote for a moment while listening to the two, but before they were even through all the letters she declared "Her pronunciation is so ugly."

"Kinya, leave right now or keep these kinds of comments to yourself. This is very discouraging," Hchee warned in a strict teacher voice.

"She can't even pronounce some sounds! How is she going to pronounce actual words?"

"Why are you being so rude?"

"I'm not rude. I'm frank. I believe there is a big difference between the two. Besides, it's not like she can understand me right now."

"I can…" Raph frowned.

"…Oh." Kinya's face flushed for a moment. She thought the translator was switched off. "…I'll go read on the porch then… Get some nice and quiet, you know? Not having to listen to any unintelligible moaning." She picked herself up and left through the same door as Falla.

Hchee and Raph watched her leave before the woman nudged him. "Don't listen to her, El. She speaks barely four languages. You're doing great."

"I heard that!"

"I'm just being frank!" Hchee shouted back and Raph actually found himself laughing.

"Awesome."

"She deserved it. Now where were we?"

xXx

The forenoon passed quite alright. Raphael kind of _"almost"_ learned the sounds of their weird but not-as-hard-as-he-initially-thought phonetic alphabet and he _"mostly"_ learned to write the letters, too. He didn't even know English cursive so that definitely felt like an achievement in the end despite his writing looking like chicken scratch in comparison to Hchee's. She said it was _"readable"_ which was something.

Maika brought him some colored pencils and paper later at noon, saying that she had seen him scribbling over her checklist the other day and that he could use the pencils to draw if that was something he liked doing. He ended up just writing down his own name and other names in the new alphabet over and over again while watching the three working in the garden and listening to Kinya complaining how he was living under the same roof and should help as well, and how she didn't want to go hiking later because the other girls were mean – or something along those lines with a lot of whining.

After a few hours in the sun Raph got bored with the pencils and turned miserable and homesick again and began to avoid everyone. Falla thankfully decided to leave him on his own for that part of the day, only bothering to bring him in for dinner and make him drink something every now and then.

It was a bit later that he pulled himself together again and stopped sulking. He hadn't stopped being worried and doubtful once, but thinking of only _that_ didn't change anything but make him feel like crap. It had just been five days. _...Right?_

Falla brought him the third snack that day left over from the party and told him to find Kinya, who was upstairs already getting ready for the hike.

…

"I think Maika wants to fatten me up." Raphael placed the saucer with a piece of some kind of apple pie on the rim of the dresser in Vnukinya's room and then climbed onto it. He sat with his legs hanging off the edge and placed the saucer on his lap.

The room had been tidied up completely a few hours ago, now appearing just like an old-fashioned girl's room without a bed.

Vnukinya was sitting on a cushioned stool and gently cleaning her face with a wet towel in front of the dresser mirror, and had only glanced in Raph's direction for a second when he was still climbing up to be closer to her.

"I think you should only start getting worried when she starts withholding food from you."

Raphael's hand wavered with the pie in front of his mouth. His brows wrinkled. "What do you mean?"

 _"You know,_ it makes the meat taste better."

Raph's entire face paled up while he slowly connected the dots. – _"What!?"_

Vnukinya's smooth, disinterested expression suddenly cracked and she grinned like a Cheshire cat. "You believe everything you hear? What do you have us for!?"

"You're such a jerk!"

The girl smiled while she cleaned all the makeup off her face, removing all the drawn markings and eyebrows, appearing like a pink ghost. Her sprouts suddenly sprung to life and freaked Raphael out, making him almost choke on the pie, as they untangled from her previous hairstyle and began to form a new one. Vnukinya was concentrating on the process in the mirror and didn't move for minutes until her sprouts were carefully braided around her head with their tips pointing out each in their own direction.

"What do you think?"

"I think I'm officially scarred," Raph blurted still staring at the hardening outgrowths.

"That bad, huh?"

"I mean… the hairdo's pretty great. You look like a pink sunflower."

"That's what I was going for," the girl smiled. She opened a drawer and took out an alloy bottle of a golden powdery paste which she began applying over the tips like roll-on deodorant.

"I thought this is going to be a hike?"

"It is."

"Then what's with all the fancy? You didn't dress up yesterday."

"This is different. I'm going to be alone representing our identity in front of new olm. I need to make a good first impression. Yesterday I had Hchee and Maika to do most of the job since I'm still juvenile, and it was also said to be casual."

 _"Okay…?"_ He didn't get it.

"Your identity is like your family, right?" he asked after a minute of no one speaking.

"An identity is an Original and all her clones. It's a bit complicated to explain to an outworlder but every identity's goal is to represent itself as what it most values. Kinda like selective breeding or something… Does that make more sense to you? Basically family and identity are not the same because family also includes the Original's Original and her whole identity."

Raphael really wasn't following her at all. Selective breeding didn't clear anything up at all, and what was with the last thing she said? "How can an Original have an Original?"

Kinya smiled to herself. "It's confusing, huh? I heard from Maika that these kinds of relations are not known outside the olm species. She's really educated about alien cultures and the only person I know that's ever been off of Mercury. I kind of envy her about that. Space must be interesting… – _Anyway._ Basically any second generation clone – like me – has the ability to become an Original."

 _"So…_ you'll just one day decide you'll be a different person?"

"Actually I'll spend a good amount of my adult life thinking of how to improve the identity I'm part of. But the tricky part is that I'll have to find the qualities I lack and want in another unrelated second generation clone who also wants to have some of the qualities I have. _And that's_ when she and I would – after many temporary tries to make sure it fits us – do the _'permanent_ reformation'. – We would share parts of ourselves with each other hoping to receive the qualities we want. And that is how I'll one day become an Original and then start my own identity."

"…Okay." Raphael was almost sorry he asked. He'd need to ask a few more questions before he could even begin to understand, but he dropped it. He didn't really care. They didn't make sense most of the time anyway.

He watched the girl turn herself into a golden, glittery sunflower then mark her face with darker pink paint around her eyes and on her lips.

"Want me to draw on you, too?"

"No way!"

"Oof, you don't need to be so loud about it."

She stood up and salvaged an embroidered neon jacket from her wardrobe. She pulled it over her leotard then turned towards Raphael still sitting on the dresser. "Ready?" she smiled.

"I still don't want to go, Kinya."

"Well that really sucks for you then."

xXx

They said goodbye – Kinya saying a dramatic farewell after having to promise to Maika that she would take care of Raph and keep him safe – then they crossed the hexagon road in front of the house, moved according to Falla's directions through the forest, down the slope for about twenty-five minutes on a narrow trail until the trees cleared and they reached a wide river which Raphael remembered seeing from the mountains two days back.

"I think this is here…"

"Where?"

"Where we meet up. These are the cliffs Maika mentioned. They should be here any shower now." Vnukinya sounded a bit unsure as she watched the white stone cliffs on the other riverbank spreading far to both sides. But she didn't seem to worry very long as she enjoyed the view the cleared space offered and the warmth on her skin. Her hairdo sparkled in the sunlight similarly to the surface of the river from where Raphael stood watching her.

The sun behind her wasn't very low but it also wasn't noon anymore. It would set in a couple of hours…

Raphael wondered, "Won't it be dark before we get anywhere?"

"Unfortunately we're spending the night under the sky."

The boy's eyes widened. He didn't know that. No one told him that. – _That's not what a hike means!_ – He realized a very cold night was ahead for him and he dreaded everything even more now. He was already getting tired. – He didn't nap at noon. … And he had never told Falla he was constantly cold…

"I want to go back."

"I'm as nervous as you," Kinya admitted and sat down on the white gravel. "I don't know where my confidence goes when I'm around new olm. – And those olm are crazy.

"Maika and Hchee don't have this problem. Feels like I'm defective," she huffed. – "I didn't ask for this."

"You did," Raph grimaced at her. He didn't care about Vnukinya but it was her idea to drag him along, too! He had not even once said he wanted to join her.

Kinya shrugged just as a branch snapped in the forest behind them. She jumped to her feet and turned in the direction of what turned out to be the awaited arrivals.

"You scared me. And talk about punctual!"

Four girls walked out of a forest path all dressed fancily, but not as fancily as Vnukinya, and greeted her rather formally. They all had their sprouts pulled into unique designs although none of them had them covered in glitter or anything else. But all of their face paints were more detailed than Raphael remembered at the olm at the party.

It was a bizarre sight. – Especially with them standing around in the wilderness with rucksacks and with two of them carrying hunting rifles and one a sword on her waist.

"El," Kinya brought him out of his thoughts.

He was still dumbly standing in place by the edge of the river.

"Come here."

All the other girls behind Kinya were staring at Raphael like some kind of disappointment.

 _I guess I'm not the only one who doesn't want me here…_

He skipped to Kinya's side and took her offered hand.

One of the girls who had rosy cheeks and dotted skin reached down for him but Kinya immediately yanked him away. "Watch out! She'll bite you!"

The girl jumped back and Raphael hissed from the forceful movement.

"I'm kidding, Chechkis. You can pet her," Kinya laughed.

The other three snorted while the first girl turned red. "Fallachis aren't sarcastic!"

This time Vnukinya became embarrassed for a moment but quickly collected herself and smirked, "Maybe most of it just goes over your head."

The girls laughed and the tallest of all five stepped forward. "Nice little comeback, Fallachis. I lack some of that."

"Is that so? And what do you offer?" the girl swaggered.

"What do you want?"

"I don't know…" Kinya laughed nervously then noticed Raphael partly hiding behind her leg, looking cautious and confused while still rubbing his shoulder. … She turned solemn for a second, "Empathy?"

Another girl in a dark blue and yellow leotard with embroidered white stars snorted. "You could not have asked a less fitting person for that! Madekonis is practically heartless."

"Shut up, Bossnis!" the tall girl warned.

Kinya only shrugged, "Too bad.

"So where are you taking me?"

They all pointed behind her at the top of the cliff rising up from the other side of the wide river.

"We're climbing?!"

"And if one falls, she falls in the river," Bossnis nodded.

 _"We're not,"_ Madekonis rolled her eyes. "We're going around and over the pastures. It's a very beautiful view of the valley from up there," she explained then pointed at the turtle, "Is he going to keep up?"

 _"She_ should." Kinya petted Raphael's head who continued to feel pathetic in his role. He silently stood beside her, scowling and with his hand clasped in Kinya's clawed one. He felt like a little kid listening to them talking fifteen feet above him.

"We can tie him to a tree and he can wait here until we get back."

Vnukinya's smile vanished. "We're _not_ doing that! – She'll be good."

The other girls frowned as well.

"If you say so," one exhaled.

Raphael was pulled along as they began to move onto the wider trail the four olm came from. The walk started casually with some basic boring conversations and with a wall Raph could practically feel between Kinya and the other four. The girls already knew some things about Kinya from yesterday but Raph made out that she was from the seaside from a village that the other four considered equal to a big city. The village was near a cliff to the sea so Kinya wasn't much intimidated by heights as they had wanted to tease her about at first.

But it wasn't long before Madekonis glued herself to Vnukinya's side. "Have you reformed before, Fallachis?"

 _"Here we go…"_ one of the girls up front announced.

"I have…?" Kinya looked at her skeptically.

"And?"

"And what?"

"Do you want to reform?"

"I- I've only done it twice with my friends. I don't know you."

"Come on. Just for one day. – I'm bored with myself."

"That's really unattractive to hear," Kinya deadpanned and the three ahead of them snorted amusingly.

The tall girl drove on. "I definitely have some qualities you want."

Vnukinya bit her cheek uncomfortably and looked at the other girls who mostly just wanted to see the scene unfold itself. _Hchee, why are you doing this to me?_ she cursed everything and herself. She wasn't even as clever with words as she thought.

"When I find anything you want, we have to reform. Polyachis and Bossnis are going to do it, too, and Chechkis is not a Second so we're left together."

 _"If_ you find anything…" Kinya grumbled to herself but Madekonis heard her and took her literally on purpose.

"If I find anything! Deal!"

"What!?"

 _"Leisureliness?"_

 _"I don't want-"_ Kinya scowled at the terrible girl. – "Is she always like this?"

"You can't win, sweetie," Bossnis smirked with the other two up front.

"Shut it, Bossnis!" Madekonis growled. "I swear to God I'll strangle you!"

"Hit a nerve?"

The tall girl was fuming but she turned back to her target. _"Honesty?!"_

Both Vnukinya's and Raphael's eyes widened from the aggressive tone and Kinya stopped in her tracks. "I- _I…"_

 _"Passion?"_

"I really don't think this is necessary."

 _"Meticulousness?"_

"Back off!" Raphael moved between them. What was wrong with her? She was being aggressive and the other three were just watching. They were bullies! No wonder Kinya didn't want to join them.

He dearly hoped to seem intimidating enough even in his small size.

Madekonis did hesitate for a moment and gazed down at him with a cold, disgusted stare. "You should control your little beast, Fallachis. I don't appreciate _him_ barking at me."

Kinya pulled Raphael back to her side, slightly behind her even, but didn't break her dark stare with Madekonis. "She likes to mimic others."

 _"Stubbornness,"_ the girl continued relentlessly.

 _"Persistence."_

 _…_

 _"Dominance."_

 _…_

 _"Then indifference!"_

 _"Fine!"_ Kinya took a step back. _"Happy!?"_

"Pretty happy," the girl smirked victoriously and viciously, and Raphael was actually freaking out a bit. He was sure a fight was going to break out but they both backed off suddenly and the atmosphere became dead silent.

The sun was setting but the forest was completely quiet, no birds making any noise like normally.

He watched Vnukinya nervously glance at the other three girls again to see if any of them would step in at the last minute. – No such luck. She even looked down at him dreadfully. There was a silent message she wanted to get across for him but Raphael just dumbly stood beside her. He didn't know what was happening aside from the other girl being aggressive and wanting to force her into something. But he now understood enough to know it was going to affect him, too.

"Just a bit," Kinya said while Madekonis stepped closer to her, looked down at her and they cupped each other's faces.

Raphael silently watched them touch foreheads and their sprouts unfold from their complicated hairdos and carefully tangle above them. His eyes were wide while he was trying to remember what Kinya had been telling him earlier in her room. Were they switching personalities, or whatever she meant!?

Only a few silent seconds passed before Kinya began to pull away.

Madekonis delayed their break-up for another few seconds before Kinya tore herself from her and fell backwards over the turtle.

Raph felt like time stopped for a short moment. Kinya was just lying there with a pained face and her glittery sprouts an untangled mess on the ground. The tall girl also dumbly stood in place rubbing her own head while the other three unconcernedly watched and waited.

Raph stepped closer to Vnukinya. "Kinya, are-"

 _"Urgh…"_ the girl propped herself up then shoved him out of the way so he fell down, too. "Be silent, Elly!" she growled like the smallest sound bothered her.

There was a weird look on Kinya's face Raph couldn't recognize. He didn't even know her that well but he knew it didn't belong there. She seemed frantic… _drugged._

He was completely thrown off by her reaction and didn't even dare to move from the ground.

Her furious eyes turned from him to the tall bully. She pushed herself up and then shoved the girl back, too. "What did you do to me!?"

"Fixed a thing or two, hopefully."

 **xXVXx**

I apologize in advance for the next chapter O.O


	29. Nighttime Nightmare

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

I want to thank everyone for supporting this story on the competition. It won in three categories and came second in one! Like whaaa? Thank you! :D I put up the wins on my profile page. I'm of course most excited to get Best Villain for Falla. If any of you think Falla doesn't deserve first place I am almost certain I'm going to change your mind by the time this story ends.

But in this chapter let's focus on Vnukinja who isn't really herself if we remember correctly. Get ready for another nasty chapter - this one somewhat close to an M rating too.

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Twenty-Nine**

 **Nighttime Nightmare**

The hike had turned into a complete nightmare for Raphael. He had suddenly become the only black sheep in the group. Vnukinya wasn't recognizable anymore. After she had cooled down, she had morphed into a nasty fifth member of the group of bullies and Raph was the unfortunate left-behind pet they had to play with.

Raph was scared – the kind of "scared" he was familiar with – a direct threat to his life. They didn't care if they hurt him now that Vnukinya was out of the way and he already knew how much chance he had in fighting them off.

He had tried running away once, not even caring that he would get lost in the woods, but Kinya had practically jumped over him in his quick attempt at an escape, "tsk-ed" at him, then grabbed him by the shell and used him as a "think fast" ball at one of the other four unsuspectingly waiting on the trail.

Raph was panicking more and more as their actions gradually worsened. Eventually he realized that his reactions were what fueled the girls the most, so he managed to suppress them long enough for their attention to partly move from him.

He had returned to walking beside Kinya with his hand in hers, trying to keep up with their pace and not bring any more attention to himself.

The girl kept making up stupid "breeder" facts about him to entertain the others as they progressed on the path, which Raphael could not deny since the other girls couldn't understand him, and because he didn't dare speak up – it was something Vnukinya was probably waiting for him to do anyway.

They had reached the top of the steep, zigzag path they had been hiking for at least an hour, and made it to the grassy plains and meadows above the cliffs under which they had met at the beginning of the hike. It was just after dusk and the stars began to shine brightly through the black sky above them.

Crickets were singing loudly in the tall grass surrounding them as they continued over a wider, more comfortable path. There were a few fireflies Raphael saw flying in the distance. It was nice and peaceful but Raph's heart was a frightened, thumping mess. One mistake and they would surround him again. He wanted to go back to the house. He was freezing, and sleepy, and aching everywhere again.

He had been successfully, quietly walking beside Kinya who was having a heated debate with one of the other four, until something scurried away from in front of his foot. It was roach-sized, moved just the same, and it was enough to send shivers down Raph's spine and make him yelp and jump a foot backwards.

"What's wrong!?" Chechkis, who walked nearest, panicked with him and jumped even further away.

"What was that!?" he blurted out, staring off the path where the insect had run off to. But he quickly gritted his teeth when he noticed all the long legs around him stop. _– Stupid!_

Polyachis looked into the night where Raph had been staring at a bunch of forgotten, rotten firewood in the tall grass. "I think he just saw an earwig. There are a lot of them around here during the night."

Chechkis relaxed and Raph collected himself, too. They were just stupid bugs, he thought. He had _fought_ bigger ones before. _Calm down…_ He realized his new panic wasn't so much caused by the bug as by the five olm whose eyes were all directed at him now.

Vnukinya wasn't there to protect him. It was just her face with the personality of one of the bullies. She was now the worst one… and she was the one he belonged to…

"The little thing's afraid of insects?" Bossnis asked Vnukinya.

"What? _He isn't…"_ Kinya scrunched her face in quick disagreement before her eyes sparked and she turned back to look at Raph. "Really?"

The turtle's pale face was a dead giveaway.

"Ohoho!"

Raph was in the middle of nowhere, at the mercy of crazy alien teens who mostly referred to him in degrading animal terms. And he just gave them the worst reason to torment him!

"Doesn't your kind eat bugs? You're practically an animal, aren't you?"

Raphael only grew more uneasy as the aliens became overly interested in his fear of insects. They surrounded him on the lonely path – fascinated and thrilled smiles staring down at him, making him feel exposed and vulnerable.

"What's wrong? Afraid they might _do_ something to you?" one waved her fingers spookily.

"They're harmless."

"Maybe he thinks they're going to pinch him with the little pincers."

"They can't do anything to you."

"They're harmless, El"

Raph stepped away from their towering bodies, feeling like they would walk all over him if he didn't move. "Fine, they're harmless!" he said nervously but recognized his second mistake immediately.

The aliens' grins spread to their gills from the sound of his tight voice.

"I caught one!" Raph heard one of them cry out somewhere up ahead in the dark of night before he even realized she was missing from their group, and in a split second a different one grasped him below the armpit before he even thought of running away. He didn't know which one anymore, they all looked too similar with the messed up malevolent smirks. He only recognized Vnukinya standing in front of him with a wicked look on her face while the first olm returned from the grass with an oversized earwig wedged between her index finger and thumb.

He swallowed back his spit anxiously.

The big earwig's disgusting black legs and body wiggled, the pincers snapping furiously as the giant brought it closer to him. Raphael's face twisted in disgust and discomfort, and his stomach crawled together.

Madekonis was the one who held him tightly, keeping him from moving away. The rest of them were all watching attentively, waiting to see what he would do.

The girl with the bug smiled, " _See_ , it's just a little pika-poka."

Maybe small to them but Raphael knew that was not "little" for a regular earwig on Earth.

Kinya kneeled down, cupped her hands in front of Raph and her friend released the squirming insect into them.

The small animal wiggled its antennae and pincers but calmed down after a while and stayed in the steady palms.

"See, El? It's friendly."

Raph's eyes skipped up from the bug for a second, enough to see some silent communication pass between Vnukinya and Madekonis holding him. His nervousness spiked, having no clue what was going through their minds.

"Here," she offered the bug.

Raph stared at Kinya with a dumb look of disbelief. Why was he even surprised they would make him hold it?

"C'mon. You'll like it."

He heard someone around them chuckle when Kinya lifted the bug closer. Raph violently shook his head. "No!" There was no way in the world he would touch it, let alone hold it. It was so gross, and freaky, and scary with the sharp black pincers in the back. He hated bugs! They freaked him out! He didn't want it any closer than it already was. He wanted to yell and get away from it but he couldn't. They were all watching him and waiting for him to freak out. He wouldn't amuse them anymore. He just needed to keep calm a little longer and they would get bored with this and leave him alone again.

"Elly," Kinya began with a kind smile, the nickname overly coated with sweetness.

Raph's panic and confusion rose – just as the girl holding him stomped down on his foot with the heel of her own.

He shouted in pain and surprise but his cry didn't last long as Kinya quickly clamped his mouth shut with her hand and pulled him in a tight headlock and off the ground with the other arm.

It took Raph less than a second to get over the shock of her sudden movement and to feel pointy needle pricks on his tongue. His brain couldn't even connect the dots at first until his face grew pale and splotchy and a terrified squeal bubbled from his gagging throat. "Mmwhmpf!" His whole body shook at once as he started pushing away, scratching, kicking, bucking against Kinya's iron grip. _No! No! No, no, no!_

"EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT!" the alien began to root simultaneously with his screaming brain, and the rest of them only followed in the cruel act.

The bug was scattering and squirming through Raph's mouth in its own panic. Raph tried to push it against his teeth with his tongue to keep it in place but every time he touched it, he had to pull the tongue back from the prickly legs and pincers as he gagged violently. His stomach was twisting. He was going to be sick.

"Swallow it, El! You'll like it!" Kinya pressed her large hand even harder against his jaw.

Raph's whole face and crushed teeth began to hurt and he produced a miserable, muffled cry. _No. Stop. Stop! Please… I don't wanna-_ Tears blinded him and he squeezed his eyes shut while continuing to shake, feeling like electric bolts were jolting through him.

"Swallow it before it cuts up your tongue."

Raphael muffled another desperate pleading sob while continuing to pull away the girl's iron grip.

The earwig scattered over his tongue and towards the back of his mouth – "MMHGH!" – just as Raph finally managed to squeeze himself out of the hold and throw his body against the macadam road. He fell on his arms and bare knees and immediately spit out the bug. A cry of relief escaped his tight throat.

He saw the creature quickly scurry into the grass, far away.

His relieved gasping was quickly cut short as his earlier dinner forced its way up his gullet and he threw up on the ground beneath him.

"I heard some dumb breeders have gag reflexes so they don't forget to chew their food and end up choking on it."

"You say 'some dumb breeders' as if they're not all dumb."

Laughter was raining down on Raph, stomach acid was burning his now-horse throat, and his limbs continued to shake in horror, disgust, and fright.

"You forgot to chew, dumbo!" he saw Kinya's feet approaching him and he quickly pushed away, scampered in reverse from her on all fours, and screamed:

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

"Oh, El, you're overreacting. It was just a joke. You didn't even eat it."

Raphael couldn't find his voice anymore. His skin was bristling, his throat still gagging, feeling like throwing up all over again while his brain tried to wrap around his assault.

 _…What is wrong with them?_ What was wrong with Vnukinya? She wasn't even there anymore, not even a little, and she was only getting worse by the minute.

"Thought you have enough brain cells to know what a joke is," Kinya pressed further, suddenly trying to shift the blame on him – like he was just too stupid to see the fun in shoving a large bug into his mouth and making him swallow it.

Kinya approached carefully, stepping over the puddle of puke, and pulled the still stunned and shivering turtle to his feet, turned him to continue towards their destination again, when Raph finally rasped out almost inaudibly, "That's not a joke."

"Sure it is," the girl smiled down at him, sweetly. _"We_ were laughing."

Raph's fist shook by his side. Anger, humiliation, and fear were warping into something unstable inside him. He felt like he would cry. "Then why don't you shove a bug down one of their throats!?"

"Because they're not little alien pests."

Raph only grew twice as cold after his heated outburst. He didn't know what to say anymore. "I- I thought you were my friend."

"Ha!" the girl barked a laugh. "I'm not your friend. I'm just not Maika. – You've known me for two days and you spent half of that time hating me. Do you really believe we're friends? How desperate are you? I know more about these four crazy bastards and I'm not friends with them."

Raph tried to glare but he was losing control of himself. His face was still pale and he still felt sick.

He made another step away from Kinya. He should get away from them all. They were insane. But all five had him surrounded in a circle again.

"Sure, you could run home and cry to Maika but you know well enough not to get on my bad side, don't you?"

The wall of freakishly tall aliens made Raphael suffocate on his own silent panic. He was watched from every corner, every move he made was judged by their scary, murky, dead eyes. He heard one whisper to another how his fingers were twitching by his sides, how he was slightly trembling.

How could this night have gone so badly?

When he made no sign of answering, Vnukinya made an intimidating stomp closer. "You know _now,_ don't you, Elly?"

Raph wanted to defy her, stand up for himself, not be the pathetic little _thing_ this new Vnukinya had him for. But that second of opposition would only be replaced by something worse and then they would only laugh at him louder than they would if he just nodded and tried to make himself invisible again.

"Y- Yes."

He squeezed his eyes shut after he saw her hand lift towards him but shot them right back open when he felt her stroking his cheek tenderly – just like Maika often did. What would he give for her to show up…

Kinya stared into his wide, glassy eyes with her own. "You're a good little pet." There was that familiar, frightening sweetness in her voice again, only deforming their evil nature into something even scarier. "Come on. Give me your hand."

Raph hesitated but complied. He lowered his head in humility as she pulled him up the path with the rest of her friends again, chatting and laughing about what they had just done to him along with other irrelevant subjects like he wasn't there anymore.

Raph was only glad no matter how much he was hurting.

xXx

Vnukinya pressed her thumb between her eyes, mindful not to smudge her face paint while she rubbed her forehead in a circular motion. There was a dull buzz forming that she really didn't want to see turn into a headache. It was irritating. Everything felt irritating and tinted differently than she was sure she was used to. It was a horrible feeling and it only irked her more when she thought about it.

A tap on her shoulder brought her back as Polyachis pushed a bottle in front of her.

"A toast to our new neighbor," she smiled together with the rest of the girls.

Kinya took the beverage with a returned smile and "thanks". That could help with the headache, too, she thought. She popped off the stopper and took a sip while her feet dangled freely over the edge of the cliff they had met under earlier.

Madekonis on her other side was naming every mountain peak for her, visible from the crossroads of two wide valleys, but she currently wasn't paying her much attention.

Her gaze fell down to the boy between them, still obediently sitting by her side and staring in front of himself meekly. He hadn't said a word since earlier and, for a brief moment, she actually considered asking him if he was okay.

There was something dark and purplish forming on his jawline and cheek as well as the top of his foot and toes, and Vnukinya worried it wouldn't disappear until morning. He would tattle on her when they got home without even having to open that little trap!

"You dead?" Madekonis shoved her shoulder.

"I was just-"

"Thinking how long a jump would last?" the taller girl suddenly shoved the turtle closer to the edge, making a few rocks roll from under his feet and down the rock face.

 _"No!"_ he cried out.

Vnukinya didn't even jerk in order to grab El away from the edge and only observed his panicked reaction with fascination as he nearly tipped over. She liked seeing him squeak and whine under their hands. There was a kind of satisfaction in overpowering something not enough of a person to make it wrong but not enough of an animal to be considered completely innocent and undeserving.

How long _would_ it take to get to the bottom? she wondered while watching the last bits or rock tumbling down below them. There was a wide river flowing at the bottom which was probably less deep and more dangerous than the sea back at her old home where they used to dive regularly for bets. But this cliff was shorter, too, so she didn't see any major problems if someone jumped in.

Without a word she grabbed the turtle's arm and stood up with him dangling from the wrist down.

"Fallachis, that was a joke," Madekonis watched her skeptically.

Kinya took another sip of her drink before handing the glass bottle down to Madekonis without even breaking her stare with the frightened turtle.

She jolted the boy in her grip over the edge until he cried out, "Stop!"

When Raphael saw her agitated look from hearing him speak up he added a quiet _"please"._

"Where's the river the deepest?" Vnukinya demanded as she began to walk the edge and Raph's stomach clenched even tighter. She was just scaring him… He tightly held onto her thumb with his free hand in case she would really drop him.

All the other girls stood up right behind Kinya and followed her like a group of wide-eyed ducklings.

"Uhm… _There?"_ Polyachis pointed to a certain spot they weren't far from. The water was the darkest there. "Don't you think this is risky? He can swim, right?"

"Of course he can! Breeders have animal instincts in them. Don'tcha, Elly?" She shook the dangling boy again when she stopped right above the mentioned spot. "Besides, he's a turtle."

Raph stared into Vnukinya's eyes, slowly understanding his life held next to no value in them. He wasn't a pet. He was a pest to her, just like she had said. She was probably only held back by the promise she gave to the other two Fallas to bring him home safe.

"I know we can't tell you what you can and can't do with him, but you're not really considering dropping him?" Bossnis asked seriously. "I've jumped off before a few summers ago but he's way smaller than us."

"You think I wouldn't dare!" Kinya suddenly accused her. There was an irritated, crazy look in her eyes as she whipped around to face them.

"I don't. But what's the point if he gets hurt in the end and we all end up in trouble?"

"You won't and neither will I because he's going to be fine."

Raph felt pins and needles in his loose dangling feet while he started to realize it wasn't just an intimidation tactic the girl was trying to pull. "Kinya, it's too high-"

"Don't speak! You have that shell on your back. Use it!

"Once you land," she continued almost sweetly, "you're going to swim over there," and pointed to a bare convex shore not far from where they had met up with the other olm earlier in the day.

The battle of emotions inside Raphael flared and out came his explosive anger. "You're sick!" She couldn't do that! How could she consider that safe!? He could hit the rock face on the way down or even land on something. He could die!

Kinya frowned from the insult. "If you think so, then at least let me not disappoint," she said with a dark expressionless face and suddenly flung Raphael with no care in the world.

A quick scream of surprise came from the spinning, plummeting turtle but it was soon silenced with what Kinya understood as his pathetic pride.

"Fallachis, don't-!" Chechkis exclaimed as she jumped to her side. "You weren't supposed to actually do it! You're insane!"

Raph couldn't stop spinning in the air. He was flailing about and panicking and didn't know how to turn himself with his feet facing down. He remembered Kinya's advice and hoped his shell would take most of the force at impact on the surface of the river running below.

He wanted to be calm, he'd fallen from high places into water before, but he was gaining speed too quickly, air was escaping his lungs and not finding its way back. His stomach was flipping over and it was dizzying. He tightly wrapped his arms around his head to immobilize it, growing afraid of the quickly nearing impact.

 _It's not deep enough! It's not deep enough! It's not deep enough!_

His legs and back suddenly connected with the surface. In a millisecond every bone in his body shook as his arms and head snapped back. The remaining air was stolen from his crushed and flattened chest. Raph wasn't sure if he hit water or solid ground. He tried shouting, but he only gasped, sucking in air, the moment his body was swallowed by the dark icy water. He was suddenly blind, all sounds of outside were blocked while his lungs filled with the cold liquid. He coughed, choked, drank the freezing water as it kept forcing its way down his throat. It hurt. He needed air.

But the pressure in his ears kept building, the dull light of the night sky above him dimming. His body kept sinking, still not coming back up, and Raph's rattled, panicked brain thought that it must have been because of the stronger gravity. His stiff, aching limbs kicked and flailed towards the surface, fighting to move up, but his movements were slow and painful. The water felt like thick tar weighing his weakened body down. More and more of it ended in the pit of his twisting stomach. He continued to sink like a rock. Drowning. _I'm going to drown!_

As if on cue, he stopped sinking from the force of the fall and his body slowly flowed back towards the surface. He continued to kick his feet under him. It was still too slow. His lungs were convulsing, pushing the liquid out only to receive it back.

It felt like a lifetime before he felt his hand reach outside, and soon his head was above the surface, too, spitting out water and gasping for air like a greedy fish out of water, trying to cough out the liquid stuck in his lungs while keeping his mouth up.

The surface of the water was a lot less calm than it had looked from the cliff and he had a hard time keeping his head above while his body still ached from the impact and shivered from the freezing temperature.

 _"Aaand_ he swims! What did I say?" he heard Vnukinya's theatrical cheer somewhere above in the dark.

A sudden bigger wave pulled Raph's head under water again and when he resurfaced coughing, he was welcomed with a burst of laughter from the other girls as well. He saw dark silhouettes of the group of friends high above at the top of the cliff, leaning over the edge and staring down at him.

Raph gritted his teeth, his anger still sparking though not even close to what it should be. His whole body hurt and he just wanted to grab and climb onto something solid and cough out the water, warm up, and sleep everything off. But he was forced to continue paddling in the dense freezing river if he didn't want to drown.

 _"O, Elly!"_ he heard Kinya's taunting voice calling for his attention. He looked up again and saw her waving something above her head. Whatever it was it was too far away for him to make out.

But even so he soon learned with a sinking feeling as Kinya shouted, "I saw Hchee using it earlier. Should we find out what else it does?"

 _No… No, no, no!_ Raph watched the tiny remote in horror. "Kinya, _don't!"_ He squeezed his eyes shut and drew a breath in anticipation.

Nothing happened for a moment and he eventually peeked back up.

He saw Kinya shaking the remote while making out someone else saying, "I don't think it works from this distance. What should have happened?"

Raphael's guard went down when something finally didn't go according to their cruel fun, but a new wave pushed him under again. He resumed coughing out water after he resurfaced. His lungs were already screaming from the repeating strain.

 _"Ugh!"_ Kinya let the device hang in her hand. – "Swim to the shore, Elly!"

She was right. Raphael was stuck in a lazy current but he knew there were rapids farther down, not far from where he fell. He was probably closer to them already. He didn't want to wait around to catch his breath and then end up being pulled down them.

He started bravely with a crawl but soon stopped. His muscles were aching too badly so he continued with simple breaststrokes towards the bank away from the cliff, in the direction Kinya had told him to go. It was still the closest to him.

He swam for a minute, struggling in the thicker water, feeling like he was stuck in mud, until he realized dreadfully that his objective was only further away than before. His head snapped to the side and back and he saw the turbulent rapids getting closer as they sparkled warningly under the night sky. His eyes widened. He had thought the current was slower.

He forced himself into a crawl again, pushing through the sickness caused by a speeding heart, burning lungs, and his painful coughing and panting. He ignored the water hitting his face as he made progress towards the now-closest shore.

 _"Swim, El, swim!"_ rooted voices from the cliff when the aliens picked up on his added distress.

Raph tried to tune them out as best he could, despite every little intelligible whisper catching his attention like a stabbing dagger. He shook his head, clearing his mind of anger and humiliation as he proceeded towards the bank. They didn't matter. They were just a stupid group of psychos! _They didn't matter!_

His feet finally felt the swampy ground beneath him and he scrambled forward faster until he could walk.

Raph collapsed on the bank before his feet even reached the shore. From his knees down he lay in the shallow turbid water while his heaving plastron and head rested on the muddy, solid ground. His arms were pulsing and aching as he clutched the scarce grass under his hands like a life line, still fearing to let his guard down.

He began to cough out the water again, not even bothering to lift his face from the ground. His chest was in all-too-familiar pain again and his throat hurt as he continued to rasp for breath. He had spent maybe three minutes in the freezing water but he felt completely worn out.

"That wasn't so hard!" he heard one of the girls shout down at him followed by the constant giggling and cackling. It was like a bang of a hammer on the back of his shell. They were making everything harder, even making him feel humiliated for just swimming to land, pathetic for lying there on the muddy grass. – Making him feel bad about himself for doing things that were keeping him intact.

They threw him in the river just for the amusement of seeing a big splash and it made Raph feel like the biggest joke in the universe. He was only worth a couple of laughs to them.

"Let's get out of here before Fallachis starts dropping us down there, too."

"You better stay right where you are until I come get you, you little runt!" Vnukinya warned him before the group slowly disappeared behind the edge of the cliff.

Raph stared after them from the corner of his eye until his gaze glanced from the abandoned cliff edge to the night sky above it. The stars gleamed timelessly in their always familiar way but the sky looked wrong, too bright, too many stars that were making him nauseous just thinking about them. Everything was wrong on this planet even now that he was alone.

Homesickness and unfairness struck Raphael suddenly with a blow that was too much. His dry and unusually dim eyes welled up with fat tears he had no more will to blink back.

It had been five very long, full days… And it had been _enough_ for him, but also enough for him to know that that was it. His brothers would have reached him by now if they knew where he was. But they didn't know. And they'd never know because there was no way one could find anything lost in space.

Raph wanted his father and big brother at that moment more than anything. He wanted Splinter to hold him in his long, warm arms and lull him back to sleep after a silly nightmare like he had done so many times when he was little. He wanted to feel his brother's arm wrapped over his shell to reassure him he was still there like he often did when times were rough for them.

 _"Leo… Dad…"_

But Splinter was countless light years away and eventually potentially dead if his brothers wouldn't succeed in saving Earth. And a small, _tiny,_ selfless part of Raph hoped his brothers would focus back on their mission and give him up because he knew he didn't matter in comparison to what was at stake.

A broken sob escaped his mouth and the tears finally spilled from his eyes. He began to cry and wail with the same force as when he had struggled for breath. He hid his face under his shoulder, ashamed of himself. Ashamed because a larger, much louder part of him was begging, hoping with all his heart that his brothers would continue to throw away precious time trying to find him instead of looking for the black-hole generator and saving their entire planet from destruction. He was selfish and pathetic for it but he couldn't help it.

The sobbing and crying didn't stop and the turtle had less and less control over it. He was being drained with the unfairness of everything. He didn't want to continue living like this. He didn't want to get used to it.

 _"I just wa-ant to go home,"_ he barely gagged on his own desperate wish. He couldn't believe the childlike hopelessness in his voice.

He was freezing cold, scared, and powerless. The unfamiliarity of everything was crushing him together with the planet's cruel gravity. He wanted to be home, where it was warm, where his brothers and Father were. Where there were no Fallas, and no other aliens, and no space. – Where no one was using him as a pet and treating him like a helpless child who had no problem living in a stranger's home. – And where nights like this would never happen.

He couldn't take anymore.

 **xXVXx**


	30. Over on the Other Side

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Thirty**

 **Over on the Other Side**

"Sshhh!"

Someone was shaking his shoulder.

 _"Mmmh…?"_

The shaking didn't cease and it gradually rattled the boy awake enough for him to blink open his sleepy, crusty eyes. It was dark and he could hear the soft sounds of nature around him. He was shivering cold and lying on damp ground. _Where am I?_

"Come on! Wake up, El!"

Raph's unfocused eyes stared through the night and slowly made out one of the Fallas' crouching forms beside his sprawled body, still shaking his shoulder. It was Vnukinya with her hair looking like a messy sparkling mop and makeup smudged in some places.

He lifted himself from lying on his stomach and sat up on his hip with a grunt. He looked around the scenery with a frown as the earlier events partly made their way back into his throbbing brain. _What time is it?_

"Oh, thank God!" Kinya exhaled, relieved that the turtle finally responded. Then she hissed angrily, "What the hell, El?"

He turned towards her with tired, droopy eyes. He wasn't feeling so well…

"You were supposed to wait for me in front of the house," she growled a loud whisper.

Raph knew that was untrue. He didn't even know the way to the house. "No. You said I have to stay here until you get back," he mumbled and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He was still so tired.

He didn't expect to be shaken by a light but painful slap across his bruised, right cheek.

"Don't talk back to me. I made it clear you wait for me in front of the house!"

"I'm sorry," he whispered while rubbing the stinging spot. A shiver ran down his cold and clammy skin. He really wasn't feeling well.

"What are you even doing here? Look at yourself. You're covered in dirt."

He looked down at where the alien gestured. His legs from the knees down were completely muddied from when he had pulled them from the water sometime in his sleep.

What did she mean "what is he doing here"? She had thrown him from a cliff into the river and watched him swim there.

Vnukinya grasped him under his armpit as she stood up and shoved him back into the shallow water. "Wash yourself."

Raph tried to catch himself as he stumbled backwards but ended up falling on his butt into the freezing cold river, splashing himself in the process. He whined as he stood back up but quickly set to rinsing the dirt off his legs. He really didn't want to fight with Kinya in the state she was in. Her eyes seemed even cloudier than they were normally.

He could barely stand still while he washed away the half dried mud. He was still sore from the fall and he felt the planet's stronger gravity pushing down more than usual. _"Uhh…"_ his stance swayed.

"Come here already," Kinya soon ordered impatiently.

Raphael hurriedly splashed the remaining mud away and made his way towards her, eager to get out of the cold river. Just before he was about to step on the shore she leaned forward and lifted him up under his armpits. "Don't step back in the mud, you dumbo."

She repositioned him into the crook of one arm and held him like a baby leaning on her shoulder.

A strong smell of alcohol assaulted Raphael's nostrils while he fought the urge to push away from the insane alien. He wanted Maika or Hchee to be there with him. They would never be so cruel to him. But Vnukinya and the other four girls were practically psychopaths. He was only glad the rest of the group wasn't with her so she didn't have the urge to handle him like a circus animal.

…

After a couple of minutes of walking down the road of hexagons surrounded by a quiet, dark forest, Kinya suddenly spoke up. "You were with me the whole night," she stated numbly. "You were with us on the pastures and I never let you out of my sight."

Raph nodded absentmindedly as sleep clouded his mind.

Kinya looked down at him resting his warm head on her collarbone, barely even awake. Did he even hear what she said or was he just subconsciously nodding without listening.

"Where were you?"

"With you the whole night…" he mumbled miserably.

"Good." Kinya stroked his face with her free hand. Her move wasn't controlled and gentle like normally and she carelessly rubbed her knuckles into his cheek making the turtle produce a quiet whimper. She quickly retracted her clumsy hand and decided to let him sleep until they arrived home.

xXx

Was there anything more mortifying than begging, mostly slave shoppers, to take pity on them and surrender their spaceship's spot on the next teleporting ferry ride? No one thought so but they all swallowed their pride in order to get a parking spot on the just sold-out ride even if it meant buying it off for double its original price.

A glowing, colorful alien with eyes like those of a goat, and its in-every-way-opposite, gray-skinned companion took pity on April on the second day of asking around the ferry station, and decided to sell her the ticket to a reserved spot for its original price.

The colorful alien's skin had begun to change colors rapidly after April had stepped up to them and explained their desperate situation. It began producing multiple moving patterns on different parts of the body, with its skin even changing texture at times, becoming rough and wrinkled before smoothing out again. April's eyes had been wide while watching the bizarre display. She didn't understand what had been happening, and if she should maybe leave, until the alien settled with a certain complicated palette of colors, and the gray alien spoke up:

"Blekksprut Tintahal says they will happily help you and your family. They still have some unfinished business on Niktikleptis and an extra seven days will be a perfect amount of time for us to complete everything."

Astonished by the mesmerizing chromatic communication, the regrouped team exchanged the money for the ticket and hurried away after saying a million thank-yous.

Now they were able to sit back and worry "peacefully" for the next five days until that specific ferry they had missed by minutes before, returned.

Fugitoid took the time to sit Michelangelo down and question him on everything he could tell about the alien who took Raphael away.

Michelangelo described from his memory that the alien woman was almost as tall as Kraang's giant rock soldiers, had pink skin with darker pink drawn markings on her face, had very murky grayish blue eyes similar to a dead fish's but with the pupils being lighter than the irises, and had what he could only describe as "tentacle hair". He explained Raphael had called her Falla but that he assumed her real name was Fallachis but wasn't sure because his translator had been broken at that point.

Leonardo had paled up from the description once he realized he had seen her – and she had seen him, and she had known – _she had known –_ that was why she had looked at him that way.

So, _naturally,_ the leader blamed himself for everything and brooded the way he was best at when things went out of hand.

On the second day of waiting and fifth day away from Raphael, when no one even tried to reason with him anymore, a loud conversation Mikey was having with Casey irked him and he needed to release some stress before he would suffocate from it. "None of this would have ever happened if you wouldn't have been jumping around mindlessly like always!"

Mikey and Casey's eyes widened from the sudden attack but they found no courage to answer.

However, April's skin bristled and she immediately got up in the leader's face. "Who's idea was it to split up?"

"So it IS my fault!"

"No one thinks that! But if you desperately want to blame someone, then, yeah, blame yourself and leave the rest of us out of it!" April was furious and when she thought she couldn't care after knowing Leo so well, the emotions spilled out and she wanted to take some of it back. "How can you blame any of us, including yourself!? None of us wanted this! No one even knew anything like this could happen! You can't blame yourself, especially not when we clearly know who kidnapped Raph in the first place!"

"And those crooks are still out there walking freely."

Donatello stepped up to his older brother. "This isn't the time for revenge or justice. Let's just focus on finding Raph."

"I am focusing on finding Raph! In fact it's been the only thought on my mind for the past five days."

"Do you think we're any different!?" Donatello warned him to back off. "Raph is Mikey's brother, too. If he has one conversation that's not strictly about this miserable situation, it doesn't suddenly mean he doesn't care!"

Leonardo was quiet, head hanging, frowning at the floor while all the teens watched him in the center of the common room. None of them would have thought that Leonardo would be the one to become the most problematic in these tough times. But it was because he wasn't acting like himself at all that no one could stay angry with him for long.

Still none of them felt like consoling him anymore either. They were all tired and stressed and barely holding together.

It was the Fugitoid waltzing into the room that finally broke the unwanted tension for a moment. "It took me two days to filter through all the Universe Wide Database available to me but I finally pinpointed the species of the alien who bought Raphael!"

He displayed a projection from his hand of a three-dimensional model of a nude alien species. "I believe this is what you saw, Michelangelo?"

"It is!" Mikey beamed, already forgetting the fight that had erupted moments ago. "Although she was dressed and had makeup and-"

"This is merely her species. The olm species to be precise," Fugitoid explained.

"We know which planet to go to now! This is great!" Donatello cheered.

"Knowing the species isn't the solution to our problem. It's only part of the solution."

"Yes," Donatello nodded. "But now we just have to go to the olm planet and wait for the tracker Mikey had attached to the alien's spaceship to do its thing and lead us to Raph."

The robot shook his head. "There is no such thing as an olm planet. By that logic there would be something like a human planet."

Donnie nodded apprehensively. "Sure. _– Earth."_

"I was also human, _or terran,_ before I was forced to live as a cyborg, just like April and Casey are."-

"What?" Casey looked at him funny.

April was also confused but she remembered when they first met the professor. "You did show us you have a human brain…"

"I don't understand," Donnie's eyebrows were furrowed together, "I thought Earth never had contact with outer space."

"Ah!" Fugitoid pointed a finger in the air. "You're not listening. I never said I was an Earthling."

"There are other planets that evolved humans?"

"Yes. Space is infinite. Things are bound to form similarly every now and then. There are, of course, some differences between Earth humans and D'Hoonib humans, for instance, but we still fall under the same species just like inhabitants of many other planets. – And the same goes with olms- or is it olm? I believe it's olm."

Donnie's shoulders sagged. "But knowing the species should give us some advantage. We do know which ferry to take."

"On such a big scale?" Fugitoid beeped. "Partly.

"Take this ferry station for example. About one ferry arrives and leaves every day. And each ferry leaves to its own destination station many galaxies away. – Almost every ferry station works like this with multiple ferries arriving and leaving. It's not hard to step from one ferry to another and go even farther.

"The current plan is to follow through with this ferry ride and wait by the station we arrive to, to see if my ship will be able to detect the tracker Michelangelo had attached from that location. There is a planet in a nearby solar system that is inhabited by olm so hopefully Raphael is there and the tracker won't be destroyed before we get there."

The teens all stood in front of the robot waiting for him to continue. But he didn't.

April eventually asked him, "And what if the ship doesn't detect the tracker?"

The professor was silent for a moment before regaining his emotionless, matter-of-fact voice. "Then we must resume our mission to retrieve all the missing black-hole generator fragments."

 _"What!?"_ Everyone tensed up.

"We're running dangerously behind schedule. If we don't find Raphael in the next few days, as I explained, then searching for him further would be a hindrance to our mission which is greater than any one individual."

"Hindrance!?" Leonardo was growing angry again.

"You are forgetting we still have a good chance of finding him through the tracker."

"That is not a _good_ chance! That is _a_ chance that we might not even get! – And then you expect us to just give him up?!"

The robot was silent because whatever truth he would say, it would hurt. He didn't dislike his decision any less than the teens but he knew it was the only reasonable decision to make.

Everyone watched Leonardo turn on his heel and storm off.

Donnie wanted to disagree with the professor but even he found nothing to say. He understood the situation and he understood his decision. But even so he still wanted to argue and prove him wrong. It wasn't fair! He rubbed his face in frustration then felt April's hand on his shoulder. He glanced at the girl sadly before he turned to follow his oldest brother towards the simulation room.

Michelangelo silently tailed him and eventually pulled his hand into his when they got to the lower level.

"Donnie, I don't think I followed well."

Donatello stopped in his tracks. He looked down at his little brother not even trying to hide the scared, sad frown on his face or his tired eyes. He sighed wondering if explaining it to Mikey would even be a good idea.

"We're all just very scared for Raph, Mikey, because there's a chance we might never see him again. The universe is huge, and we can't find something if we don't have a precise lead to it."

He expected Michelangelo's eyes to water and for him to break down crying, but his brother took the information with a firm face. "I know. We'll find him. I hid the tracker well."

Donatello didn't know if it was good for his brother to be so hopeful. It might crush him that much more later on. Still he nodded.

"And Leo… He's stressed."

"He doesn't cry," Mikey said.

"No, he doesn't," Donatello nodded again as they proceeded towards the simulation room.

Leonardo wasn't a very emotionally expressive person like the other three brothers – like, especially, Raphael. And the current stressful situation was draining him more than others because he didn't know how to handle it in his usual controlled way – he couldn't order anyone around and execute a plan to fix everything. He could only shout at them which only made him feel worse in the end. But since he was supposed to be the tough older brother he didn't even dare to cry and seek comfort to let it out that way.

Maybe some training could help a bit, Donatello thought as they reached the simulation room and he pressed the button to open the sliding door.

His eyes immediately widened and his face paled up when he saw Leonardo standing there in the pit of their lair with Raphael facing him. "No!" Donnie quickly smashed the off switch on the control panel right outside the door.

He stormed into the room towards his surprised older brother who suddenly found himself back in the spaceship's simulation room.

"No!" he shouted again and grabbed his arm to prevent him from doing anything more. "You are not doing that, too, as long as I'm here!"

"Why not!?" Leo shouted and ripped his arm from Donnie's grasp.

"Because Raph will never forgive you if you do! He hates it the most when you lock yourself in here, away from us."

Leonardo's angered face eventually fell and his shoulders sagged. He looked so drained and exhausted with dark smudges under his glassy eyes.

"Donnie…" He sat down on the floor and hung his head in shame. He suddenly looked so vulnerable and his voice was tight like someone hardly containing himself from crying.

Mikey was right behind Donatello and they both joined him on the cold tiles.

"I-" Leo faltered when he noticed his youngest brother and realized they weren't alone. "Mikey… you don't need to be here."

Michelangelo was clearly upset but he didn't allow it to affect him. "I'm not going away."

Leonardo turned his head away while he rubbed his eyes dry and swallowed back the lump in his throat.

"I think crying is a much better solution than shouting at people. It's better to let it all out that way. And it won't be the end if we're there to see it."

"I'm so sorry, Mikey," Leo whispered shamefully while clutching his legs.

Michelangelo's face became more serious. "I don't hold grudges, dude. Especially not against you guys. – But I hate seeing you like this. I mean, I hate _this,_ period. – But you need to try and be more positive. – _For Raph."_

Leo sniffed and chuckled hollowly, "I don't think this affects him much where he is."

"It will!" Mikey argued. "Because once we find him, you can't break down on him. He'll need us more."

Leonardo's head finally turned directly to his brother. He was taken aback by his words. Even Donatello looked surprised. Mikey was right and they needed to hear that.

Raphael was the one hurting the most, the one who was ripped away from them and had no one to seek comfort in. They had each other – they had more – yet Leo pushed them all away.

"But what if we never-"

"Shut up!" Michelangelo's cheeks puffed and he stared at his brother with an angry glare. "When have you started believing that!?"

He noticed even his other brother look away shamefully and Mikey's mouth parted in disbelief.

"Why won't you tell me anything?!"

"Mikey, you're not-"

"I'm not what? Mature enough!? So if I'm not mature like you two, I don't even understand anything, and it's better to just ignore me and go talk to a fake Raph instead?"

"You're my little brothers, alright!?" Leo shouted suddenly and tears finally spilled over his reddened eyes. "You're not supposed to worry!"

"We're going to worry anyway!" Donnie joined in.

"It's my job to keep you safe!"

"No, that's _our_ job. We're all in this together," Donnie argued.

Mikey's voice had softened when Leonardo started crying. "And right now we worry about you, too, bro."

"I'm fine," Leo choked.

"Dude, you're not."

Mikey moved into a hug and Donatello soon followed when Leo sagged into it and almost tipped Mikey over.

He began crying and blubbering about everything they knew he was beating himself up for and even some things they hadn't even guessed. He wailed about them splitting up on the stairs and about yelling at Mikey and about seeing the pink giant and missing the train and even about things they really had no control over. How he kept having dreams where his brother was crying for him, and how the pain in his chest never left after he woke up. He even admitted how hopeless he was becoming through every day of just waiting around for something that probably wouldn't lead them anywhere at all – all while Michelangelo and Donatello held him in a reassuring embrace with tears running down their cheeks as well.

It hurt, but they all needed this.

After a while, when Leo calmed down slightly and they all just sat in the embrace in silence, Donatello snorted with his cheek pressed against his big brother's shoulder as a thought crossed his mind from a strange familiarity. "How does it feel to be on the other end of a possible loss of a brother for a change?"

"Dude!" Mikey gasped.

"Feels- …I have no words."

"Yeah, we know. But we'll get through it and get our bro back."

A bitter smile found its way to Leonardo's lips and he laughed almost soundlessly. "I've been a real bad brother."

"No," Mikey immediately disagreed.

Donnie smiled, too. "You just have a terrible hero complex."

The youngest did nod at that. "Also a bit of control-freakish, mother-hen-ish kind of complex."

xXx

The seventh day rolled around unbearably slowly. The team suddenly noticed through the ship's wide windshield that their enormous teletransporter ferry had already flashed into its reserved area and was locked into the ring-shaped station, receiving its refill on fuel. Spaceships were disembarking through the opened gate like a swarm of flies and new ones were beginning to line up to the check-in along with their own.

The group was adrenaline high from just standing in place and watching Fugitoid drive his ship up to the massive space ferry and into the beehive like interior serving to take in as many ships as possible. They felt like they were finally doing something after forever.

The Ulixes was parked sideways against the opposite wall. Artificial gravity was still fascinating to the teens because down was always down even now as they were technically positioned at a ninety degree angle.

It took about two hours of constant traffic for the ferry to fill up and for the gate to slowly and resoundingly close. A loud rumbling erupted in the walls as the engine and boosters outside began to power up.

Red light flashed over all the walls and a loud noise broke through speakers all throughout the inside.

 _"Prepare to turn off your vehicles in thirty vexes. In case the task is not completed your power will be shut down by force."_

"Everyone, hold onto something," the professor ordered then shut everything off including the gravity and lights.

Everyone was clutching different parts of the ship in order to keep their feet from floating off the ground and only the flashing red from outside lit the control room and their slightly spooked faces.

 _"Takeoff in three vexes."_

"How long will this ride take, Fugidude?" Casey asked.

"About three to four days."

"What?" everyone exclaimed simultaneously just as the red lights died and pitch blackness engulfed them.

The motors outside hummed up loudly, drowning out whatever was being said next. Everything shook steadily but terribly violently until they all heard a thundering bang and felt a slight discomfort, like an elevator starting to move and descending a bit faster than normally – something like a slight nudge.

It lasted three to four seconds before the noise of the engine lowered and all of the lights and gravity returned and dropped them all to the floor.

"What happened!?" April demanded.

The android was the only one standing in the same spot as in the beginning. He lifted his finger to speak but was beat by the speaker recording.

 _"Teletransport successful. You have arrived near planet Kreda in solar system Dragul, Rudnick system, Bogoo Zah Herb-Tom galaxy. Thank you for flying with BLINK."_

"We're here?"

"Yes, we're here. In one of the most technologically advanced galaxy systems in existence. – The Rudnick system."

"We've just traveled for days?" Donnie questioned as if not believing what he had only read as theories beforehand.

"Yes. It is not much different from Ulixes' hyperjumps only that my ship isn't capable of making one longer than about thirty minutes. It also depends how fast you travel."

"So Raph has been missing for over ten days now!" Leo panicked.

"Technically, yes, although he had spent three days and a half just like us."

…

The robot slowly drove his ship out of the ferry and then far into empty space away from the nearby planet and traffic. There he explained their next step.

"Now we can only wait again. The tracker should be sending a signal only every four hours after all this time. So we can hope to be informed from any moment now to about then."

Somehow waiting was even more unbearable this time. It felt more decisive and scarier. Every minute that ticked by lowered the chance of there being a lead they had come all this way for.

Leonardo was pacing around, April and Casey were sitting on the stairs, and Michelangelo was fumbling around doing many activities one after the other.

Donatello was smart and decided to distract himself with Fugitoid who rattled on about all the interesting planets in the Rudnick system and how he wished to visit some one day if he would ever have the free time.

"Ah, it's all so exciting. I wish we would have been here at more convenient times. I had wanted to visit the planet Rekia since I was a child. Rekian technology is unlike any other. They have mastered the bending of the fourth dimension."

"We've heard that name before," Donnie remembered. "Those de-aging pods back at the market."

"Yes, their technology is being transported to all parts of the Universe. _Even the lowly kind…_

"I also suspect that that time scepter you had mentioned once, the one which belongs to that Renet girl, is also old Rekian technology from how you described it. I've no idea how it will one day end up on Earth, however."

"Whoa! Fascinating." Donatello's eyes grew.

Their chitchat was ended when the screen in front of them flickered and beeped.

"It must be the tracking device!" Donnie called out to everyone.

The teens rushed up and surrounded them in an instant. Their faces were a mix of dread and hope as they waited for the Fugitoid to finally deliver the news.

"It is still successfully attached! And it is right where we have hoped: on planet Mercury!"

The relief the team felt in that moment was indescribable.

 **xXVXx**

Welcome to the third and final part of the story! We've gone through the beginning and middle, now we are at the begining of the end of the book. Only five more chapters, guys! Stay focused on the details or you might miss something important, and thank you so much for the reviews and other support!


	31. A Promise Made Is a Debt Unpaid

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

 _EmPro8_ asked if we'll see any of the post-rescue fluff in this fic since the story ends with chapter 35. The answer is, no. That wasn't what interested me in this story. Also recovery stuff often bores me if I'm brutally honest. Let's just hope we actually get the brothers to reunite in these few chapters... :*

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Thirty-One**

 **A Promise Made Is a Debt Unpaid**

Falla woke up with something warm, almost hot, pressed against her stomach. She eventually opened her eyes and looked down to find El sleeping curled up beside her, clutching the end of her pajama top and resting his forehead against her. He was almost hanging over the edge of the bed.

The woman's eyebrows furrowed while she scooted back a bit to make room to gently pull him farther from the edge. After she made sure she didn't wake him up, she propped herself up with an elbow and looked to the other end of the bed, where she and Hchee had left room for him and Vnukinya once they would have come home sometime in the early morning.

Only Kinya's slim frame occupied the other half of the long mattress, lying sprawled on her stomach ungracefully.

Maika wondered what made the boy prefer the small edge of the bed so close to her. He had not willingly slept close to any of them so far.

She smiled to herself, glad of the gradual change.

xXx

"That looks like… _Earth?"_ April commented as they approached a blue planet in the deep of space with green lands and patches of white clouds far far away from where their actual home was. April could have easily mistaken it for their planet if it weren't for the unrecognizable shapes of the continents.

Fugitoid was driving them directly towards the tracker's location which was almost directly in front of them, or rather below them, in a quite mountainous area.

The ship was reaching the planet's exosphere, _they were so close,_ when a sudden force suddenly pulled it sideways and threw everyone in the control room off their feet. They heard the ships engines shut down and then felt them hit something big.

"Oh, no!" Fugitoid worried. He was just about to switch the screen to the sideways camera to see what new monster had the ship in its jaws, when the large screen switched to a different channel.

A pink face appeared over the whole monitor. It was similar to the one Leo and Mikey had seen. It was definitely the olm species. Their skin bristled.

"This is Mercury Border Control," came through a strong but feminine voice, "Please identify yourselves."

Fugitoid hesitated for a moment before speaking up clearly "I am Professor Zayton Honeycutt from planet D'Hoonib. My companions from planet Earth and I are here to visit Mercury for …a personal matter."

The pink alien looked them over before looking through a binder on a desk in front of her with a bored sigh on the tip of her tongue. "I don't see an invitation for you here." She lifted another page. "To be honest there currently aren't any invitations for anyone…"

"We need an invitation?"

"An alien person is allowed a visit on Mercury for a maximum of ten days under the knowledge and approval of the Union of Mercury Nations and an official invite from a Mercurian in whose home she would also stay," stated the olm. "This law excludes alien animals or other alien organisms and larger machinery. The transport to her location is provided by us."

 _Well that definitely wasn't part of their plan…_

"Excuse me," Michelangelo shyly walked in front of a baffled professor, not knowing how much of the control room the officer was seeing over the camera and wanting to make sure he was noticed, "but we would like to visit _Ms. Fallachis._ I'm sure if you contacted her that she would happily give us an invite."

The officer blinked at them then shook her head lightly as she turned to the side and they could hear her type something down onto a keyboard. "Which Fallachis entity would you like to ask for an invite?" she glanced at him.

 _"Uhh…"_ Mikey scratched his arm. _"The leader?"_

A pink eyebrow rose up. "The Original, you mean?"

"Yes, the original! Silly me."

A minute passed with the olm typing on her computer keyboard and the team silently staring at Mikey, not knowing whether he was stupid or brilliant. They would decide after they saw how far he got them.

The alien eventually returned to face them. "Fallachis Maika-"

"That's her!" Mikey piped up. He could clearly remember the alien jibber jabber sound by sound and the word "Maika" was definitely in there.

The officer looked at him a bit testily for cutting her off. _"Fallachis Maika_ will be receiving her letter shortly. Until she responds you must stay here or move farther away from our atmosphere."

"We'll stay where we are if that is okay? So we will be able to receive your response as soon as possible," Fugitoid finally spoke up again.

"Very well," the officer nodded then canceled the video call.

"That was _smooth,_ Mikey!" Casey grinned as everyone stepped together.

Donatello smiled momentarily at his little brother, too. – "But does anyone really expect this _Fallachis Maika_ to invite us to her home? She's not stupid."

"She could be," Casey shrugged and received an unamused glare from the tallest turtle.

Leo sighed tiredly, "Let's just wait and see…"

xXx

"I know what I'm doing. He'll get used to it."

"Used to being depressed?" Hchee questioned while spreading honey over her piece of buttered bread.

Maika placed her tea cup onto the saucer and extended her arm over the table to cut herself a piece of bread as well. "Oh shush! He's doing better."

"He is. He must be getting the first symptoms of Stockholm syndrome," Hchee snarked.

"You are absolutely terrible!"

The way Maika smiled to herself while buttering up her slice made Hchee's eyes widen in concern.

"You know the neighbors think this is strange," she eventually said.

Falla shrugged, her smile not faltering a bit. "They have been thinking that for six decades now and they still come over for tea.-"

"MAIKAAAAAA!" a loud cry from upstairs made both women stop their banter and look at each other in concern.

They heard a hail of footsteps thunder over the ceiling and down the stairs until Vnukinya arrived sliding in on the polished floor just outside the morning room doorway. Her head was a mess and her expression freaked out.

"Maika, something is wrong with El!"

Falla immediately stood up, alert. "What?"

"I don't know! She's not breathing well!"

Maika didn't need to hear her words twice. She immediately abandoned her breakfast and rushed past the girl and up the two flights of stairs, tailed by Hchee and the worried youngest. She finally reached the bedroom door and pushed through it like a hurricane, then proceeded rather carefully onto the mattress and over the trembling and gasping turtle. She calmingly asked, "El, what's wrong?" while looking over his frame.

There was a scared look in Raphael's eyes as he wheezed for air and didn't seem to receive any. _"I-"_ his throat worked but couldn't force another syllable. He had been balled up and shaking but had rolled towards Maika when he had seen her arrive, wanting her to do something.

"Maybe his collar isn't working? He had trouble with it before," Hchee immediately tried to find a reason for the sudden problem.

"He doesn't need it to breathe," Falla blurted while touching the child's forehead and neck. _"Shh, calm down._

"Why is he so hot and sticky?" she looked at Vnukinya.

"I don't know! I, _uh,_ showered her when we came home."

Maika's eyes widened after finally seeing the big dark bruise over the right side of Raph's face. She hadn't even noticed it when she woke up because he had been sleeping on that side. "What's wrong with his skin? – It's on his foot, too! – Is it a rash?"

"I don't know!" Kinya cried out nervously.

"Well he's obviously seriously sick and needs immediate help!" Falla messily gathered the bedding around the turtle and lifted him up with it. "Get to the car! We're going to the veterinarian."

"All of us?"

"All of us!"

The clones obediently rushed ahead out of the bedroom and down the stairs into the underground garage. Kinya waited for Falla to catch up while Hchee took the driver's seat.

Maika eventually squeezed into the back seat with the turtle in her arms and Kinya quickly got in on the other side after closing her door.

They were on the road in a matter of seconds but the initially adrenaline high ride was long despite Hchee speeding greatly over the limit. The closest entrance pass was at the very end of the valley.

…

"This is dragging like a fog!" Falla complained after what felt like forever as she continuously watched the gasping turtle with a worried frown. He was breathing more calmly than before but was obviously tiring out from it. He had tried speaking a few times but didn't come far with it.

"You said it's a _'fog'_ away!" Hchee argued. "I think we're close."

Falla looked through the window at the constant forest surrounding the road. Occasional glades would pop up every now and then and reveal the clouded sky. It didn't take long for the woman to pinpoint exactly where they were. "Only a few more showers. There should be a section to the left, right behind a giant boulder beside the road."

After a few minutes the car made a sharp turn and pulled up to a single house in the middle of a bare hill. The women didn't waste a second and rushed to the front door.

Hchee rang the doorbell while Maika impatiently banged on the door.

After another short minute, an older olm opened up and made Vnukinya pale up. "Hello? Fallachis, what is it? We are just breakfasting."

"Bossnis Mahtee, we urgently need a pass to a veterinary clinic," Falla almost pleaded and clutched the wrapped turtle closer.

The olm immediately let them into her house without any further questions. They stepped through a remote hallway and reached a dim, wide hall surrounded by three enormous tesla coils. The owner stepped up to a control set and picked up a phone attached to it while the Fallachis waited in the center.

"Where exactly are you passing?"

"To the herpetologist's clinic in Zala."

"Wouldn't it be better to take him to a real doctor?" Hchee asked.

"What on all worlds is an _olm_ doctor going to do? El doesn't even have gills to breathe. - To the herpetologist's clinic in Zala," she nodded again at Bossnis.

The older olm called in on the phone and waited only a second before speaking up. "Hello! Good morning, this is the Verhnicka station calling for a free opening. – Gate 4? – Thank you.

"Around when should I expect you to call back?" she asked Falla after hanging up.

Falla only shook her head worriedly.

"I'll keep you in mind." The alien turned a knob on the control set.

A large thunder erupted in the tesla coils and made Raph, who had been frighteningly still, recoil in Falla's arms. His burning eyes opened wide when large, loud lightning bolts sparked and cracked over the metal bars surrounding them. A panicked feeling filled him and he squeezed himself against Falla who calmly stood with her clones in the center of danger.

 _"Shhh, El, calm down. It's okay."_

He felt like he was facing a different kind of death all of a sudden. His instincts were too overwhelming and the noise was too loud and resounding for him to be able to calm down. He wanted to get away but his feet uselessly kicked, wrapped up in the bedding. He eventually buried his head in the woman's pullover and scrunched his eyes shut when an even louder thunder banged over the walls. His wheezing was quickening again, he felt lightheaded.

A surge of a strange sensation rushed through him and the thundering stopped in the next moment.

"Thank you for the safe arrival," he heard Hchee say somewhere far away, through the loud throb in his brain.

He opened his eyes to see, but his head only swam from the sudden painful, white light. Spots danced in front of his vision. He heard footsteps and saw smudges of figures around him.

He felt large hands shifting him and lifting him up just as his mind blackened and left.

xXx

"He's still unconscious but he's stable. His fever had gone down a bit and we are going to be putting him off pure oxygen after ten showers so you'll be able to take him home soon. However, he is suffering from a lung infection which further developed into pneumonia and will need to take antibiotics to recover. The sickness will undoubtedly stretch through days and you should let him rest through it."

Falla listened to the veterinarian, having no idea what "lungs" or "pneumonia" were, but understanding enough to not bother with it. She watched the turtle motionlessly lying in a see-through incubator with a worried frown on her face. Only his chest was moving in a slow rhythm.

"What caused this?"

"His lungs – primary organs in his respiratory system – have been exposed to a lot of stress. They are in bad shape and our further analysis found traces of foreign liquid in them. It's what allowed the infection to occur."

"From what?"

"Presumably choking on water."

"I don't know…" Fallachis placed her curled fingers against her lips. She didn't know what to think. Had he fallen in the river last night? But Vnukinya would have brought him home if something was wrong with him… Wouldn't she? She would have said something in the car. – "What about the rash?"

"The rash?"

"The discoloration of his skin."

The doctor looked down at the turtle to see what the woman was gesturing at. "Those are bruises. They are caused by an impact rupturing the blood vessels underneath the skin."

Maika's eyes widened. "He was struck!?"

"I had assumed"-

"I would never!" the woman asserted while her mind wandered to all that could have happened last night without her knowledge. Her skin bristled when it all came down to Vnukinya. _She_ knew exactly what had happened but she had played dumb and hadn't said a single word.

"He had suffered from a panic attack in the morning before you brought him in. Whatever happened, you need to have a serious discussion with whomever has been taking care of him recently. These are too many 'coincidences' to be considered mere unfortunate events."

Falla was feeling horrible. She hadn't even thought that-

Vnukinya …She wouldn't have lied to her about this unless…

…

"You reformed!" Fallachis Maika accused her clone immediately as she waltzed back into the waiting room to the other two. "How dare you be this irresponsible!?"

Her youngest was already standing up, waving her hands in front of herself defensively. "Maika, you don't understand."

There was a panicked look on her face and Falla just then noticed it wasn't _her_ look. It was someone else's! She was right, she did reform! She had been too distracted to notice before.

"Is this- What have you been doing with that child? They found water and gunk in his lungs. He had a panic attack!"

"They made me reform!"

 _"They made you-?"_ Falla was taken aback for a second, not knowing whether to laugh. – "No matter how persistent they were, a reformation isn't a one way thing, Vnukinya! You participated in it as much as the other olm!"

"But they did!" Kinya cried. "And- and she gave me all her worst, repressive qualities!"

"Enough!" the eldest shouted furiously. "You tried lying to your own Original! When we come home you are going straight to your room and I don't want to see you out of it until the next day, until there is only _me_ who I see. – No dinner and no supper!"

"I'm not a little child!"

The sound of a loud merciless slap shook the walls of the waiting room and made everyone sitting and standing around turn towards them.

"Don't talk back to me!" Maika warned. "Because of this disrespect you are in charge of cooking and cleaning for the next week, too. And you are not going to show yourself around El until he recovers. – Is this clear?"

"Like glass…" Vnukinya shook, not even daring to touch her stinging cheek or look around to see the strangers listening to Maika scolding her.

"This night was a disgrace to the name I've built. You shame yourself and Hchee," she pointed to the woman standing behind Kinya, listening with a solemn expression, "and, most importantly, you shame me. I have not created such a cowardly smear who is so willing to submit under a bit of peer pressure. How do you expect yourself to stand up for your beliefs when you move out if you can't even stand up for yourself? An Original has to be an iron fist in a velvet glove not a forgettable obeyer."

"I understand. I'm sorry."

"You _don't_ understand because you're not _here_ yet. We are going to have a long conversation tomorrow after you return fully and you are going to tell us everything that happened last night. And then we will decide on further punishment."

"As you say."

"Now," the woman's voice softened as she composed herself a bit. She cupped the girl's face and brushed away a tear with her thumb. "Stop crying and go wait by the entrance because I don't want to spend another breeze looking at this unfamiliar, stupid expression on your face." She released her.

Vnukinya finally rubbed her eyes free of tears and quickly left without a word, hanging her head.

After she was gone and everyone in the room was back to minding their own business, Hchee stepped closer. "Maika, that was harsh."

"It wasn't. You made her soft," Maika dismissed her.

xXx

The ride home was quiet. Vnukinya was avoiding anyone's gaze and was silently staring through the car window. Hchee sat in the back with her, with the turtle wrapped in bedding and sound asleep in her arms.

Maika had taken the wheel on the way home because she insisted she needed a distraction. There was a pissed look still plastered on her face while she quietly muttered to herself through the entire drive and made Kinya sink in shame.

They drove to the house without a single word exchanged. When they stepped out of the car into the garage, Maika directed a single look Vnukinya's way and the girl was already rushing upstairs to her room in the next second.

The two women nestled the sick boy on a bed in a guest room secluded from the rest of the rooms where he could get as much undisturbed rest as needed. Falla stayed with him while Hchee decided to go make dinner.

"Make something light that he could eat, too. I think egg soup and rusk would be good."

Falla sat on the bed beside Raphael observing him and trying to quiet her anger. She didn't want to think about what had happened to him at that moment. What mattered was that he was okay even if sick. And she was there and wouldn't allow anything like this to ever repeat itself.

She didn't want to leave him alone.

She read the instructions on the prescription he had received many times over until she remembered every detail by heart. She wasn't a fan of artificial medication but couldn't trust her gut to nurture an alien back to health. She couldn't know what he needed.

After a while the door creaked open.

"I made tea," Hchee announced quietly with a smile and pushed the door wide open with her shoulder. She held two full mugs in one hand and another plus a phone in the other.

Maika smiled back then nudged Raphael's cheek to see if she'd get any reaction. "He's still knocked out from the drugs he received at the clinic."

"No worries." Hchee passed one mug of steaming tea to Falla and placed the smallest one on the night stand. She sat down next to her, "You received a letter sometime in the morning," and handed Falla the house phone, too.

Falla frowned in confusion after she took the device and carefully read the sender on screen. "Mercury Border Control?" she looked at Hchee who was equally puzzled.

She placed her mug beside Raph's and opened the message to thoroughly read it. When she was halfway through her hand covered her mouth and she chuckled in disbelief, "They found him."

"Who?"

"His brothers. They're asking for an invite to Mercury," she breathed out then quickly turned to see if the boy was still sleeping. Her shoulders eased back when she saw him in the same position as before, completely cut off from their conversation.

"How did they get your name? Mercury doesn't share data with the Universe Wide Database."

Falla recalled the events and face palmed. "I told it to one of them. I never assumed they would even get close. … I don't need this…"

Hchee watched her hide her face in her hands, appearing completely perplexed and not knowing what to do.

"You don't need to invite them."

"You don't understand. I promised him I'd hand him over if they ever found him. I just never thought that would ever be a possibility. – I don't want to give him up."

"Well you're not breaking any promises if they're not here."

"Look at the Fallachis I know," Falla smirked. "But I couldn't do that."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I- …I need to think," Falla admitted. She had two options and she would need to decide. One went against her but the other went against what she wanted.

"Well, whatever you decide, I'm standing with your plan. And as for Vnukinya, I think she'd be willing to jump into manure for you for a while after today," Hchee laughed lightly but seriously and stood up, "I need to go finish up dinner. I'll bring it up here if you want."

Maika stayed behind again as her brain mulled over a decision. She was completely divided, searching for another option. – She still couldn't believe they had found them. Nothing like that had ever happened to her before. She never even heard of it happening to anyone. But she had to give them props for it. They followed their sibling through countless galaxies. Not many could say that.

It took Hchee less than half an hour to return and find her in the same position as before: with her elbows on her knees and her intertwined fingers supporting her head while her eyes skipped over something that wasn't there.

"So how's planning coming along?" she asked once she stepped in with a tray of food and placed it next to Raphael's cold tea.

"I know what I must do," Falla said decisively.

Hchee stirred the boy awake so he would eat at least a bit. "You do? That was fast. – And that is?"

Maika watched the turtle's pale face grimace under the sudden touch and his head turn to the other side, revealing the large bruise over his cheek. – "What's the first rule of Fallachis? _And the one Vnukinya needs to hear again?"_

"Never lie when it comes to promises," Hchee recited.

She gently stroked Raph's face again and he let out a moan.

"And wouldn't I be a hypocrite if I went against my own rule?"

"So you're just going to _'do it'?"_ she chose her words around the wakening turtle carefully.

"That's how promises work."

 **xXVXx**


	32. The Final Deal

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

I really wonder if any of you will figure out what Falla is up to before the story ends. Is she going to give Raph back or not? What exactly did she come up with in her complex mind in the last chapter? My beta didn't have a clue until it was revealed but we're now leaving a bit more clues than she had for you to work with. It's still not much, and Cel thinks no one's going to figure it out, but I want to encourage your creativity and prove us both wrong... :P

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Thirty-Two**

 **The Final Deal**

The main screen turned on without a warning and the familiar pink face of an officer showed up. Hours had passed since they had canceled the call with her, the hours away from Raphael just piling and pilling. Everyone was still scattered around the control room, waiting for the returned call, not even daring to leave to another room and end up missing it.

"Good morning, I believe, this is the Mercury Border Control calling," she announced, as if they could forget.

No one returned the greetings. They all just lifted themselves to their feet and gathered up in the center of the room, faces dead serious and anticipating – dreading – the response.

"We've received an approved invitation from Fallachis Maika to allow you a visit to her home in Zaherbtna, Govaria. She is expecting you to arrive later today. To remind you, the transportation is provided by us."

The group of teenagers stared wide-eyed, not even comprehending what they heard. _She invited them to her home? To Raph?_ She had to know they were Raphael's family. So why'd she do it?

Casey didn't need time to wonder why a great thing just happened. "That's awesome!"

"If you give permission, we will attach a crossing with our station to your ship."

"Permission granted," Fugitoid nodded.

The officer gave a signal to someone in the back before facing them again. "However I must inform you, Professor Zayton Honeycutt, the Union of Mercury Nations has only approved entrance to five visitors. You have been labeled under larger machinery and are denied access."

Everyone in the room looked at each other in concern.

A space mission without Fugitoid? That didn't sound ideal. Far from it. But they couldn't argue with the rules and blow the chance they had just received. The olm seemed very strict as to who and what was allowed on their homeworld. Which was understandable but very inconvenient for them.

"I understand," the professor eventually said just as they heard something attach itself to the back of the ship and make the ship's outer alloy groan.

"The crossing is ready. We will be waiting." The call disconnected.

"Can we pull this off?" April questioned. "Without Professor to help-"

"You will be fine," Fugitoid assured. Mostly just to give them some confidence. They would need it. "You will have everything taken care of by the Mercury government and I trust in your ability to negotiate with Fallachis Maika. If there will be money involved- _When_ there will be money involved, give me a call.

"Now go. Go gear up. Do not let the officers wait."

They all rushed to the equipment room and in mere minutes piled up by the exit hatch dressed and prepared. Fugitoid checked to make sure they had everything and that they had left all the weapons behind before the olm would march them right back into the Ulixes and ban them forever. He also checked that they had their helmets on tightly before opening the airlock.

"Come back as soon as possible. Remember your home is at stake, too."

They nodded although they were all a bit bitter that the robot had to bring that up again when they were already stressed enough.

Donatello took over the controls in the airlock and opened a smaller round hatch they didn't normally use as an exit, revealing the inside of the crossing the officer mentioned would lead them to the border station. It was like a plane tunnel but they slowly floated through it, pulling themselves forward by small handles, towards an opened hatch on the other side.

It was a much larger hatch and all five had to pull it together to lock it back up. The room refilled with air and artificial gravity eased them back to their feet once they did, and they all found themselves complaining that it felt too strong.

The enormous airlock door opened automatically and all the teenagers bundled together, wide-eyed in front of the size of the pink officer they had been speaking with, standing on the other side. Leonardo and Michelangelo had almost forgotten how tall and intimidating the aliens were.

"Welcome to Mercury Border Station. I haven't introduced myself yet, I am Officer Prevoznis and I am assigned as your driver and guide to and from the airport.

"Step inside," she ushered with her arm when no one moved from their spot.

The team eventually unglued themselves apart and stepped into the room. They began to trail the woman like imprinted ducklings.

"Watch your step, everyone."

The team looked down but noticed nothing on the floor.

"I was speaking to my colleagues," Officer Prevoznis commented while leading them through the wide hall and past other twenty-foot-tall olm employees, some staring down at them, some not, and some working, and walking around.

They went through decontamination, customs, and eventually through security, where they all received bracelets that could be tracked, before Officer Prevoznis gathered them all in a vehicle on an impressively large takeoff platform.

"These are the smallest seats we have. Buckle up as best as you can," she suggested before leaving to the cockpit.

…

After they felt the ship begin to move and descend, and had been flying for a while, Mikey nervously leaned to his tall brother who shared a seat and seatbelt with him. _"Pssst,_ Donnie."

"Hmm?"

"I can't understand a single word anyone is saying."

"What do you mean?"

"My hand translator-thingie broke back at the parking lot on Singathef and I wasn't thinking when I put it on again," he showed the dead device wrapped around his hand.

"Why didn't you take a new one? Did you expect them to just know English so you wouldn't need a translator?!"

"I don't know!" Mikey whined. "I could understand the officer back on the screen so I wasn't even thinking that, _well gee,_ I'll need something to understand them on the planet."

"The call was simultaneously translated by the ship's computer while podcasted," Donnie explained while rubbing his temples.

"That's pretty freaking untrustworthy. – _Like dubbed anime,"_ Casey hummed beside them when he overheard the conversation.

 _"Okay…"_ the tall turtle rolled his eyes. – "Well, Mikey, I can't help you now. You should have said something immediately. We're probably going to land soon."

And they did. It had taken them only about twenty minutes to land and they were immediately disembarked and led into the terminal. The group tailed the officer, almost glued to the soles of her feet while they were observed by other intrigued olm. They were the only aliens at the terminal and possibly even the only ones on the planet…

Officer Prevoznis was soon stopped by another olm midway through a hall. "Good forenoon! Are these the visitors of Fallachis?"

"They are. You must be-"

"Their land guide, Vodichis. I'll take them over from here."

The two aliens exchanged some more words and a few documents before the officer said goodbye and turned a different way towards a canteen.

"I am Vodnichis Doch, representative guide of Govaria – the country we are headed to. If you agree, we shall head on.

"Currently," she began as they walked, "we are in one of the rare few airports on Mercury located in what we call 'off-land' – a place of public property that is cut off from the outside and reachable only from space or by entrance passes. Each country has only one off-land-" she blabbed like a tourist guide as she led them into a secluded room with tesla coils in each corner. "An entrance pass is a teleporting device that connects to any other pass on land. However the on-land passes only zap to public property so they are not used for regular travel between locations."

Donatello was almost drooling as she talked. The rest didn't care, except for Mikey who unfortunately already gave up asking Leo every few seconds what anyone was saying.

"Stand still, this can seem frightening for a first time user," she warned as she dialed a number on a phone on the control panel.

xXx

"That is correct, I am expecting you. I'll see you in a few showers."

Vnukinya had walked into the foyer from the kitchen and found Fallachis just hanging up a phone call and placing the device on top of a cabinet. – "Hey Maika, have you seen Hchee?"

"She had to go to a last minute interview yesterday evening when you were grounded to your room. She'll be back sometime at night."

Kinya stopped in her tracks as the woman faced her. "What do you…?" Her eyes narrowed for a moment.

"It's a job interview."

"…Okay, _fine!"_ Kinya huffed, immediately turning annoyed. "I don't even want to know who you're trying to fool with this."

"Just play along, Vnukinya. Don't ruin this!"

"Ruin what exactly?"

"El's family has tracked him down and they're arriving right now. We need them to feel _assured."_

 _"…Assured? That they'll…?_ – You're not seriously considering giving her to them? El has everything she needs here. I bet our planet is a lot better than theirs! – _Is this because of me?"_

"'No one loves her homeland because it's great but because it's hers'," the woman recited. "And it's not about you. …A promise was made before."

"Oh come on!" the girl grunted. "We're seriously going to do it? Just because of a promise? He probably doesn't know the definition of promise – dumb breeder that he is."

"Vnukinya, enough! Go make dinner right now. You still have mood swings and I don't want to deal with them."

"Ugh!" The girl stormed off.

"Don't forget to make enough for five mini guests, too," she shouted after her then stepped through the front door and closed it behind her.

The aliens were close, the guide informed her over the phone. She leaned on the door and crossed her arms as she waited for the car to show up.

She'd invite them in and hopefully they'd be civil and let her lead them to a guest room. She wasn't going to give El away just then. He had to get a bit better from his sickness in order to be able to go anywhere. If the relatives wouldn't agree with the idea, they would already be in the guest room so she could just lock them in if she had to. It sounded terrible but she really didn't know what kind of aliens to expect to show up. If they were anything like El, well, then they could be a handful. And she couldn't afford them sneaking through the house behind her back.

A white car drove up after a few minutes and pulled up at the foot of their long front yard. Fallachis stepped down the porch and approached it as casually as she could. She was growing more worried with each step, doubting if she could pull the plan off.

This was going to be an awkward position for her but she couldn't allow that to overwhelm her. She would need to act like she would with any other guest and get them to trust her intentions.

An olm stepped out of the driver's seat and waved at her. Five small aliens in awkward-looking suits and space helmets pooled up around the guide.

"Greetings," Falla smiled, concealing her nervousness.

"Good noon!" the perky guide smiled. "Well," she turned down to the aliens, "this is as far as I go. I'll come pick you up when you give me a call or after ten days pass."

"A call from where?" the one in a blue tinted suit asked.

"From our phone," Fallachis answered instead of the guide and gestured back at her house.

"I am Fallachis, as you all probably already guessed…"

All she received in return was the aliens continuing to look at her grimly and skeptically.

"Okey-dokey," the guide said, feeling tension in the air. "Well, I'm off. Have a great time!" She stepped back into the car and immediately began to pull from the driveway.

They watched her drive away before Leonardo turned around. "Fallachis Maika, we-"

"It's Fallachis."

"Okay, _Fallachis,"_ he grumbled disinterestedly. "We've tracked you down. We know you have our brother, and you know we're here for him. So where is he?" he demanded.

"Let's be civil."

"Civil?!" The young leader almost choked on the word.

The woman's shoulders sagged when she recognized the unmovable stance in the small child. That was definitely El's sibling. She saw being sweet wouldn't cut it so she pulled on her own authoritative stance. "Civil," she repeated herself clearly and sternly and already partly received the wanted response. "You are here, on my land, in my home and under my rules, and you are going to act like good guests! And in return I will be a good host. I have approved your request to come here despite having every right not to. You should be grateful for this and you should know by now that I have the intention of returning your sibling to you. So why be hostile? Did you think I'd invite you here just to laugh at your face in spite?"

The group was quiet and she took that as a sign to continue.

"Come inside and we shall discuss everything." She walked back up the porch and opened the door.

The team wavered for a moment before cautiously following. Leonardo took the lead inside and Fallachis closed the door when they all stopped in the foyer. They were all astonished by the glamorous interior, as well as the house and nature outside, but none of them allowed themselves to show it.

Most of them had gotten a great urge to just run off through the house and find Raphael, but they already had a hunch that Fallachis had already thought about that and made sure that wouldn't work. And they wouldn't even be able to leave without her helping them make a call, so cooperation was their only option.

They followed her up enormous stairs they had to climb and through two overly chichi hallways. At the very end they entered a room in which the woman closed the door behind them.

A quick look around told the team they were in a bedroom, probably a guest room. Their eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Do you want some tea? _Cake?"_

Donatello was actually glad Michelangelo didn't have a translator but his sarcastic thought was cut short by his other brother's frustrated voice.

"No, we do _not_ want any tea! We came here for our brother!"

"I understand that. But what's the hurry? I'd like to learn your names first."

Everyone stared at her uncertainly. Once they couldn't see a catch they all told their names one after the other with Mikey being last when he realized what the question was.

"And are you two," Falla looked down at April and Casey, "the female versions of your species."

Casey almost fell backward. "What!?"

April actually laughed at that and shoved him. "No. We're humans. We're Raphael's friends."

"Whose?"

"Raphael's."

"Oh, you must mean El," Falla smiled.

"He must really adore that nickname," Casey chuckled hollowly but shrunk under Leonardo's intense gaze.

"So where is he?"

"Sleeping," the giant straightened her back. – "You'll receive him in the future."

"The future!?"

"That is correct. In a few days. One. _Two, maybe?"_

"What! Why?"

The blue one was really rubbing her the wrong way. "Because this is my house and what I say, goes."

"That's-"

"I don't appreciate your tone with me, Leonardo," the woman cut him off. "I'm doing this as an unselfish act – completely free of charge. You don't need to pay me a single copper coin. All I ask for is some patience and then I'll give you your sibling unharmed and allow you to leave peacefully."

"I don't think we can-"

"I never asked you to trust me. – The reason for this is that El is sick. He caught something on a hike a couple of days back. He's running a high fever and needs to get a bit better before we can put any arrangements into action. He's in good hands. We're taking good care of him. Another day isn't forever."

Donnie got Leo's attention by placing his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Leo, Fugitoid said we can't drag this for too long."

"Fugitoid's not here," Leo frowned and turned back ahead, "But I still don't like this."

"I don't need you to like nor approve of this. I'm stating what will happen whether you agree with it, or not."

Leonardo bristled. How could she talk to them like this! How could she just _think_ that any of them would be okay with this! "We want to see him now! We have been apart for too long!"

"You won't. – Unless you can pay me back with another Domovynian crystal, in which case you can leave this instant."

"I'm quite sure Fugitoid doesn't have one of those _and I'm pretty sure she's being sarcastic,"_ Donnie whispered the last part to Leo.

The leader grimaced but then exhaled exasperatedly. – Why did the bad guy have to be a twenty foot giant? He couldn't attack her. He didn't _dare_ to attack her even if the whole team helped. Like she had said, they were on her land where her rules applied. If they tried anything, she could call the police for all he knew, and they'd be banned from the entire planet for the rest of their lives.

"I need you to tell me the truth. To tell me if you hurt him," he said clearly and as politely as he could while fuming on the inside, searching her eyes for the slightest sign of dishonesty.

Falla bit her cheek slightly. She wouldn't tell them about Vnukinya and her stunt. That could wait for the boy to tell them himself if he would want to. The aliens needed to think that another day or two wouldn't put El at risk.

"I haven't done him any harm. – You will still dislike this information," she said compassionately, "but he was bought as a pet, to nurture and take care of, not as something to 'use' and ruin. He has been safe and well taken care of."

A small part of Leonardo's and Donatello's fear had left with those words despite being infuriated by the truth. Raphael was okay physically. However he was undoubtedly humiliated beyond imagining. They just hoped that his ego and mentality were intact. How could they know he was really okay? Of all of the brothers Raphael never got sick…

He was running a fever and mostly sleeping at the moment. Both brothers knew they couldn't pull him out of that by force. But they were worried. And why couldn't they see him?

"Okay…" Leonardo dreadfully uttered to everyone's surprise. "One more day."

"We'll see how he's doing tomorrow," Falla said but then smiled softly. "My, _err…_ daughter will bring you dinner up here. Don't worry, it will be edible for you. We make sure.

"And put down the helmets. They seem terribly uncomfortable and you have no need for them here. At least I can speak on behalf of Raphael and his kind. I don't know what humans breathe."

The tall alien left after a while and they all heard the door lock click behind her.

xXx

"How's El?"

"You know you're not allowed to go to him."

"I know, I know. I'm just asking how she is," Vnukinya nodded where they met outside the door.

Fallachis reopened the door slightly just enough for them to see the turtle sleeping on the bed, breathing through his mouth shallowly. "He's delirious but his fever is coming down and he ate something." Fallachis showed the half empty mug of soup in her hand. She closed the door again. "What about the aliens?"

"Pretty alright for people in their position, you know? I think that creepy alien candle you had lit up in there works. They didn't thank me for the food, though."

"Maybe it's just not part of their culture… El is pretty rude himself often."

Kinya absently nodded at the possibility but then faced the woman with a sharper expression. "So are you going to let me in on this _plan,_ finally?"

"El will go home tomorrow or the day after."

Vnukinya's eyes lowered disappointedly and irritably, "Guess not…"

 **xXVXx**


	33. Tricks

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

 _Allifox,_ the ten day stay limit doesn't apply to Raph. He's not a guest, he's property... :(

 _I_ _ndiana Rose_ and _Creepypastera_ , the assumption you share is false. I was thinking wheather to help or not and decided to just say this: Falla isn't planning anything you don't already know exists. You've already been introduced to the "idea" (and been reminded of its existence in quite a few chapters throughout the story...) just not to everything you can do with it when you get creative. ;)

Happy and careful reading, guys!

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Thirty-Three**

 **Tricks**

Fallachis walked into the bedroom with a small cup of hot tea in her hand. She carefully set it down on the nightstand, producing only a light but deliberate _"clink"_ before sitting down on the side of the bed.

The sleeping boy shifted under the bedding after a moment, sensing a new presence and trying to stir awake. A whine escaped his parted lips as he arched his back and brought the back of his hand to his eyes.

He seemed distressed in his slow wakening and Maika immediately leaned over him, cupped his face to direct his gaze at her. "Hey, El, take it easy."

His scrunched eyes finally fluttered open and gradually focused on her features. His shoulders fell back as he sagged into the mattress defeated.

"Maika?"

"Good morning. It's great to see you awake.

"Can you hear me?" she asked, concerned after a second of no response.

"What? I can…" he rasped out, disoriented and confused. _"G'mornin'."_

Falla smiled and touched his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"I…" Raph's forehead was wrinkled in pain and thought for a moment before he tried propping himself on his elbows, "What day is it?" but gave up immediately as nausea pinned him back. He felt so heavy.

"You've been sleeping for two days straight. You woke a bit to eat and drink but that was it."

Raph groaned and took another deep raspy breath. His memories were so blurry. "What happened? I don't…"

"You got pretty sick, kitten," Falla ran a thumb over his soft, green cheek in a soothing rhythm, "After you went out with Vnukinya and some other youth, _and, well-"_ she stopped herself. "Do you remember anything at all? You look a bit lost."

 _"…I- I fell in the water… It's so hazy…"_ Raphael slurred weakly but then slowly remembered after a moment of thinking back. "How could I forget her shoving a bug in my mouth," he grumbled bitterly and propped himself up again, this time successfully.

Fallachis' eyes had widened from what she heard, but she didn't say a thing. She would ask El about what happened some other time.

"That was two days ago? It feels like- _I just…_ I feel like crap."

Falla held his face for a moment and smiled at him reassuringly. "It's okay. You were very weak. Allow your body to fully recover.

"Here," she handed him the cup of tea from the night stand. "Drink a bit and rest. There's no need to get up if you don't want to, but if you feel up for it, come have dinner with us downstairs."

She watched him greedily gulp down the tea, then she left with the empty mug so he could get a bit more rest. She ran into Vnukinya right outside the room who had been peeking through the door. Falla stared at her like an angered owl while slowly closing the door behind her. "What are you doing?"

"That is so messed up," the girl whispered with her hands on her mouth. "How did-"

"That you threw him in the river? _That you shoved a bug in his mouth?"_ the woman stared at her sternly. "Seriously, Vnukinya, I expected something to happen but not _this._ What's wrong with just scaring the child a bit?" she muttered while she passed her to head downstairs.

Vnukinya's eyes widened. "You- You _knew_ this would happen!?"

"Not to this terrible extent," Falla stopped and scowled at her before pulling back. "But I did. I brought up Hchee. You think she was much different at your age? – And I know what the youth around here are like."

"But then why didn't you stop me? Why did you let me take El along?"

"Because I wanted him to go. Don't you understand, Kinya? You need to predict some things sometimes in order to stay a step ahead."

Kinya slowly followed. It was about El all along. Maika wanted him to go with them and get scared… That was the whole point. So he would be scared if Maika wasn't around to keep him safe.

"What about me?"

Falla's expression softened. _"Sweetheart,_ don't be upset. I would have never thought you'd screw up so badly. But gaining experience will strengthen you. At least I hope so. I can't imagine you being any more pathetic anyway.

"You will definitely never allow for someone to do something like this to you again, will you?"

"I won't," Kinya muttered at the floor as shame filled her again.

"What better way to become experienced than while you still have me and Hchee to support you and help you?"

Vnukinya felt hurt but she nodded, understanding Falla's logic and wishing she could grow to its full potential herself. But all of this felt so wrong to her… She wondered if she was a defective clone…

xXx

"You got anything yet, April?" Leonardo casually asked where he stared through the wide window at the mountainous landscape behind the well-groomed back garden. He didn't know if he'd asked this already or not. His mind was a little distracted.

The younger olm who looked unusually similar to Fallachis had brought them breakfast earlier and took the dishes from yesterday's supper. She had claimed she didn't know anything Fallachis was planning or when she'd show up and left them again without any news about Raph.

Fallachis had locked them in her guest room shortly after they had arrived at her house and hadn't shown herself since. That was yesterday afternoon. It was getting close to noon already. Everyone's patience was thinning. But thinning very slowly…

The redhead huffed where she was lying on the large bed with Mikey resting his head on her stomach.

"His mind is louder today but it's so lost, so divided, like part of him is already accepting everything while the other part struggles," April muttered out while holding her temples. "It's so frustrating but I can't focus enough to get through to him. I can't understand his louder thoughts at all. It's weird."

Donatello was sitting on the floor beside her, tinkering with Michelangelo's broken translator. It didn't seem he could fix it or figure out how to fix it. He barely got it to turn on. He couldn't even seem to focus on it, or on anything really. Maybe he was just tired.

His eyes wandered to an almost burned-out scented candle on the night stand.

An unexpected knock on the door immediately pulled them all to their feet and together, with Leo putting himself in front of the group again.

A lock clicked and in stepped Fallachis _…and another one._

"How is everyone?" the one they had met before, in green clothes and braided sprouts, asked with a smile. When no one answered she continued. "This is my _twin,_ Hchee. She couldn't come introduce herself yesterday. But she wanted to meet you."

"Hello," Leonardo muttered after a second. He wanted to get to the point already but two olm were more intimidating than one.

"What are your names?" the one with her sprouts hanging over her back asked and leaned her palms against her knees to bend closer to them. She looked exactly like Fallachis Maika.

The team again introduced themselves but in the end Leonardo brought up his own question before the two could stir away the conversation.

"How's Raphael? When are we going to see him?"

"He is doing great, Leonardo," Maika grinned. "I think he's going to come down for dinner today. And if he does, then you shall be reuniting with him early in the evening."

"Is he still feverish?" Donnie asked.

"No," Falla smiled. "He's almost fully recovered."

xXx

Vnukinya heard a faint noise of feet slapping against the wooden stairs outside in the foyer while she was setting silverware on the dining table. She quickly laid down the last spoon and hurried to see who it was.

Raph stopped dead in his tracks when they saw each other.

… "I thought you were Maika," he groaned after putting on an annoyed stance.

"I thought you were Maika, too."

Raphael scowled at her. "Do I sound like her to you?" He passed her without showing a care in the world while in reality he was very nervous to be near her after everything that had happened. His memories were fuzzy but he remembered what she did and how she treated him.

Vnukinya turned to follow him back into the dining room. "El-"

"Are you normal now?" he cut her off. The girl could see pain and confusion in his eyes where he stood with one hand holding a chair leg as if he could pull the large furniture between them if he had to.

Kinya's shoulders fell. And she thought the worst was over when she got control of herself again. "El, I'm sorry for everything I did and said back then.-"

"Are you back to normal?" he repeated his question.

"I am."

"Okay." He pulled himself onto the chair with the booster seat and sat down looking away, showing her he didn't want to hear anything else from her.

But Vnukinya wasn't finished and continued talking. "I will never allow for something like this to happen again. I will be your friend from now on, El, whether you want me or not."

"Okay," he said again, quietly.

He could feel Vnukinya's presence waver behind him for a moment before she eventually left for the kitchen to finish up dinner. Raphael stayed sitting motionlessly, leaning on the table. He could tell he still wasn't feeling completely normal yet. It was a strange feeling, like his mind was trapped in a dream. It had been too long since he was last sick.

Minutes passed while he waited for food. He was hungry and suddenly restless. He crawled onto the table to pull closer a bunch of flyers and a magazine he had been observing at the end of it under someone's purse and wallet. He thought it was Maika's purse. He wasn't completely sure if he remembered her wearing this one back at the black market where he first saw her, or if it was a different one.

He pushed back the flyers when he couldn't recognize the writing on them and pulled closer the large magazine and sat back down onto his chair.

The cover displayed a gray foggy planet and the title was in their swirly writing he could read.

 _"Rekia"_ he pronounced carefully, not knowing what that word meant, just as a large hand landed on top of the magazine and prevented him from reading the subtitle.

"What are you doing?"

Raphael's wide eyes snapped up to Maika looming over him with a strict expression.

"J- Just bored."

The woman's face softened and she pinched his cheek lightly. "You're so adorable.

"Well now," she picked up the magazine, "it's time for dinner."

She said that just as Hchee walked into the room and Vnukinya came in with a big pot of chanterelle soup.

"Hey, you're up!" Hchee sat down across from him.

"I am," the boy hummed while watching Maika pick up the flyers, too, and put them all in the bag. Was there something he shouldn't have seen?

"Wait," Hchee's eyebrows lowered. "He doesn-" She grabbed herself by the throat but didn't even need to continue when her wide eyes saw Fallachis' proud grin behind the turtle.

"I don't what? I don't choke?" Raph didn't understand the gesture.

"Of course not, darling," Falla grabbed his shoulders to rub them. "She's just surprised you've recovered so very quickly."

"I'm fine. Maika probably bathed me in those leafy plants that have magical healing properties."

Falla laughed then sat down on her chair beside him. – "Hchee, if you don't get a job after _that,_ I swear to God!"

"After what?" Raphael asked thinking they had still been talking about him.

"Hmm? Oh, her great job interview yesterday. You don't know that but she wasn't home while you were sick. She had to travel quite far for a job offer."

"Oh… How did it go?"

 _"How did it go, Hchee?"_ Vnukinya mumbled sarcastically, obviously annoyed and angry as she poured Hchee some soup.

Raphael was getting seriously confused by everyone. What the heck had happened while he was sick? The tension in the room was so thick he could cut it with a knife.

"Vnukinya, I'm warning you," Falla said while the girl moved to pour soup into her plate.

The room fell silent. When everyone's food was served, Kinya sat down, too, and began to eat ignoring everyone around her.

 _"Okay…"_ Raph scratched his shoulder nervously, not liking the unknown tension that wasn't dispersing. He guessed it was because of Vnukinya's recent stunt. But that didn't explain why she was the one who was angry. He looked at Hchee to switch the subject. "Were you on another planet like the one on the cover of that 'Rekia' magazine?"

He heard Falla's spoon clink louder than usual but Hchee only chuckled amusingly. "Why would I need to go that far, I'm just a teacher? People rarely leave their country here.

"Also I'm terrified of the idea of space travel," she smiled in the end and winked at him.

"Then where you've been?"

"Where _have_ you been," Maika corrected him.

"Huh?" Raphael stared a bit confused. "That's what I meant to say."

"Does Zaherbtna Valley ring a bell?"

"It doesn't…"

"Well, that's where I was."

xXx

Dinner was finished in mostly silence and the eldest both left without paying attention to the turtle. Which was odd… Vnukinya gave him a cookie for desert but was tasked with cleaning everything up and washing the dishes and she left him alone, too.

So Raphael wandered aimlessly around the house while eating the enormous pastry, wondering what he could do. He stopped on the second floor in the smaller hall between two more hallways and a spiral staircase leading to the third floor, where he had seen the endless forest on his first night there. The library door was ajar and he could hear faint furtive voices coming from down inside. He thought he heard his name so he carefully walked in onto the balcony to eavesdrop on the conversation.

 _…_

 _"I don't understand how he doesn't realize…"_

 _"What a strange side effect. It must be part of his subconscious. That's why he knows how to use it. It'll probably fade away when he won't need it anymore. Don't worry about it. It won't be enough to make them want to return."_

Raphael listened while his forehead wrinkled. What were they talking about? He leaned closer to get a better look downstairs just as a larger crumb broke from his cookie in his next bite and fell through the wooden railing.

 _"I can't believe this is actually going to-"_

The faint noise of the crumb against the parquet stopped the voice as it got the attention of both olm.

 _Crap!_ Raphael's eyes were wide as he backtracked out of the room. He could already hear footsteps going towards the library stairs.

"El, is that you?"

He quickly hid himself behind the staircase just as the door swung open and Maika stepped outside. He silently watched her waver by the door, carefully looking around.

She eventually turned back and fully closed it behind her, locking it.

Raphael stayed under the stairs for a few minutes while his heart raced, thinking Falla would swing the door right back open if he came out of hiding. When it didn't seem such a trap was set, he finally stepped forward.

He tried to piece together the little conversation he heard but came up empty. "Stupid cookie," he said while taking the final bite and wiping his fingers on his plastron.

His eyes slowly wandered to the side where he saw the door under the stairs ajar. It had never been open before… He had assumed it was just something like a small storage room, but as he pulled it open wider it revealed a third hallway. It was much narrower and lower than the other two and not decorated like the rest of the house. It was unlit and dark and lead along the library to only one isolated door he could barely see at the very end.

It made sense when he pictured the house from outside. There was another small room with a small window attached to the outside of the round three story library wall. He had never wondered what room it was and how to get to it.

Silently, Raphael approached it, something drawing him towards it. There was something important on the other side... He could feel it.

He pushed himself on his toes and carefully, quietly brushed the door with his fingers to find the lower handle. There wasn't one which didn't surprise him at all, but he was extremely disappointed by it. He could never reach the regular handle Falla used. And something told him he would find that one locked, anyway.

There was daylight seeping through the crack under the door and before Raph could think he was already on his knees peeking through it into the room beyond.

It looked like a tiny tidied spare bedroom. He couldn't see anything on the floor but he couldn't see onto the bed from his lateral view, either. The only thing he noticed was that creepy candle that made his skin bristle standing tall at the top of the night stand and flickering its poisonous flame.

Raphael wanted to call for whoever was in there but he backed away, suddenly not wanting to know at all. He turned on his heel and bolted away back into the first hallway and downstairs.

Something important was being hidden from him. _He knew!_

He slowed down outside the kitchen arch where he heard noises coming from inside. He carefully walked in and saw Vnukinya behind the island counter drying up dishes in a cloth and putting them away. But with her back towards him was Maika working on something on the counter.

He stepped closer to the side to better see.

"Why are you preparing food? We just ate."

Fallachis turned around at the sudden voice of the boy behind her. Vnukinya was making enough noise putting away the dishes that she didn't hear him come in. _"El, I-"_

"And why is it on a tray?" he asked skeptically.

Fallachis looked down at the tray of food on the counter before turning back at the boy and concealing her surprised expression. "Haven't we told you already?" she said while smiling again. "When Hchee was on her trip for a job interview she welcomed the possible employer to our house for further discussion. She's in our guest room."

"That didn't come up…" he mumbled. "Is she in that room down that creepy dark hallway behind the stairs?"

Fallachis eyes were wide for a moment before she nodded and picked up the tray, "I need to bring her dinner now. Don't bother her unless you want to give her a heart attack. You'd be quite a shock to see for someone like her," and left the kitchen.

"Also don't let me catch you eavesdropping ever again," he heard her fading voice.

Raphael stared at the empty arch for a moment before exhaling, glad Falla wasn't angry about that. He climbed on a bar stool and stood up to face Vnukinya across the island counter. "Why do I feel like she's hiding something from me?"

He received no answer.

"Hey, is Hchee really scared of space?" he asked something else. That seemed so forcedly mentioned back at the table.

"She is, actually," the girl said just as she placed a bowl in a cupboard. "We've never been off the planet, despite having the chance to go with Maika a couple of times."

Vnukinya's face fell where she was wiping a glass dry, and she turned away from El. She guessed Maika didn't mind lying through her teeth in certain situations. She wished she could just tell Raphael who was in the guest room but her Original would be furious. Even more furious than before, probably.

"Have you ever heard of genies, El?"

He looked at her funny from where he had been tracing a knot in the wooden surface. _"Uh,_ I have…?" he wasn't sure what she meant.

"You tell her your wish and she'll twist the words around, or the lack of them, until she's satisfied with her cunning nature but still delivering what was requested," Kinya said. "Maika's pretty close to a genie sometimes."

Raphael watched her.

"But what's different with her is that she won't show her magic or the trick. She'll make it seem like you got exactly what you asked for."

The boy's eyes were wide. He didn't understand what Kinya was suddenly scaring him with. Until he realized she probably only picked up on his confusion and he scowled, "That's not funny! Go mess with your friends and leave me alone." He jumped off the bar stool and exited the kitchen without another word. And he thought she was better than them!

Kinya gazed after him quietly with a disappointed frown and she almost dropped the glass in her hands when Hchee stepped up from behind the arch in the next second.

"That's quite a poetic comparison," she said with an unreadable expression and crossed arms.

Vnukinya only started drying the glass faster.

"Too bad you're reciting it to the wrong person."

xXx

Raphael stood outside in the front yard of the house, looking at the small window of the room he found. He couldn't see inside. The house had those one-way mirror windows.

But someone was there…

He almost cursed himself when some unwanted hope reemerged together with his present dread.

 **xXVXx**


	34. Checkmate

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

I hope you had lovely Easter last weekend.

This story is making me realize that writing clues and hints is actually really hard! There was one big change in the last chapter about a certain someone that my beta immediately realized so I thought the hints were obvious enough and I wanted for the readers to figure that out so it was perfect. But no one else seemed to figure it out now that I posted the chapter, or piece _anything_ together for that matter. ...But then there's Creepypastera who I think already figured out the entire plan and ending... So now I really don't know what to think. [enter Falla's famous quote here I guess]

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Thirty-Four**

 **Checkmate**

The narrow hallway door was back to being locked when Raphael returned to it after a few minutes so that chance was blown. He ran back into the dining room. When he made sure no one was there he grabbed that purse still sitting on a chair. He searched it for the magazine but it was no longer there… He only found the flyers stuffed inside a hidden pocket he barely noticed. They were covered with writing that looked like nothing he knew and photos of strange machines, some kind of capsules with weird alien babies inside which made no sense to him.

He was growing seriously worried by all the little mysteries that were suddenly happening through the whole house. He was growing frustrated but he knew he couldn't go ask Maika for answers or even Hchee after today's weird dinner. He believed Vnukinya. They'd twist around the words – their own words so they could lie to him. Maika was a trickster. The kind you don't even recognize at first glance. But she had done it enough times to him for Raphael to already know that.

After a thought Raph set to finding the youngest to see if she was willing to tell the truth and be his "friend" like she had said.

…

It took a while to locate her in the enormous house. She was outside in the backyard half hidden between the clothes drying on the clothesline. Raphael crossed the garden and moved between the hanging sheets and clothes swaying in a light breeze and found Vnukinya hidden in the middle, folding up a row of dried laundry.

"Kinya…"

"Oh hey, El," she smiled softly. "Sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to scare you with that."

"About that," the boy stopped beside the laundry basket. "I know Maika and Hchee are hiding something from me."

"I know," Vnukinya hummed.

"You do? So it's true!"

"I thought you said you already _knew?"_ the girl smirked as she folded up a colorful quilt and placed it in the basket.

"Well it's confirmed now! And I need you to tell me everything!"

Vnukinya exhaled exasperatedly and frowned. "Hchee gave me a nasty talk earlier. I can't tell you what they're up to, okay? I don't even know how they're pulling it off."

"Pulling what off?"

He didn't receive an answer.

"So you won't help me at all! What about the whole 'I'll be your friend' speech?"

"Let's say this. You can ask me a few questions I can confirm or deny. But I can't help you more than that. I think Maika will start planning to disown me if any of them overhear any more from me," she laughed bitterly.

"So we're playing a game, too? Like I don't have enough of those from Maika…" Raphael pouted but received no more pity from the girl.

"Okay _fine,"_ he exhaled. "Did Hchee travel to that planet 'Rekia' I saw on that magazine?"

"She didn't. Like I said, she's scared of space."

The boy was taken aback. "She didn't? Okay, so then she traveled to Zaherbtna Valley, like she said?"

"That's awkward to answer. I'll say she did."

"So she wasn't lying at all after all!"

"She was."

Raphael's brow wrinkled. "What?"

"Let me cheat this once and tell you that _'this',"_ Vnukinya gestured around them, "is Zaherbtna Valley."

Raphael silently stared at her for a while. "She never left the house…"

 _"Ding, ding, ding! We have a clue!"_

"I don't get it. What was the point of making that up then?"

"I can only confirm or deny questions."

Raphael growled and rubbed his hands over his face. "Fine! Then are my brothers in that room?"

"Who? What room?" Vnukinya played dumb.

She leaned down to see where Raphael was pointing to a small room sticking out of the library wall, hardly visible from where they were.

"They aren't."

Raphael's shoulders sank as he cursed himself for even thinking that. "So there really is a guest Hchee welcomed into the house…" he mumbled.

"There is," Kinya hummed as she proceeded with her chore. _She welcomed five of them actually,_ she thought but didn't dare say it. His question hit too close. If El figured it out on his own, that would be fine but she won't tell him herself and get into more trouble.

"But she never left the house."

The girl only shrugged and side-glanced at Raph.

 _"Confirm – deny. Got it,"_ he grumbled.

"These are the last two pillow sheets I have to pick," she warned about the time limit that wasn't mentioned before.

Raphael skipped on the spot trying to come up with something that could be answered with "yes" or "no" but couldn't think of anything. He didn't know enough to piece anything together!

Vnukinya just folded the last sheet and placed it in the basket when he blurted out, "Am I even able to figure this out?"

She looked at him just as she leaned down with both hands on the basket. She bit the inside of her cheek as she stared at him and he stared back. "Your time is up."

"Come on!"

"I'll ask one question now," she said seriously. "Have you noticed anything strange about yourself after you woke up?"

Raphael took in her vague question. _"Anything strange about myself…?_

"I have. I feel… _'lost',"_ he couldn't find a better word.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. The days don't add up in my head even though they do. When I woke up and Maika asked me if I remembered anything, the last thing I could recall were faint flashes of being taken somewhere – to the vet, and before that, _well, before that was when I spent the night with you,"_ he grumbled the last part.

"And what's wrong with that?"

"I don't know. All my memories, _all of them,_ feel so _…faded._ They're not very clear…"

Vnukinya's eyes slowly grew in silent realization and comprehension.

 _"Thank you,"_ she suddenly straightened up with the basket on her hip, "because now _I_ know how she did it. That clever fox…"

"How she did what!?"

"I can answer your question now. – The fact that you stand here is proof that you'll never figure it out."

"What?" his eyes were wide.

"Sorry. Question time is over. You have a few fogs to try and prove me wrong."

"That's it? You're just like them! Full of twists and turns, making me go nuts!" Raphael yelled.

"I don't know if you forgot but I'm a Fallachis, too, El," Kinya said over her shoulder as she headed towards the house. "I really can't help it. I'd tell you but I don't want to ruin my name in this family. – You're smart. Open your mind and beat Maika in her own game."

Raphael silently watched her leave. The strange conversation with her only made him paranoid. He sat down in the grass feeling completely lost.

His eyes noticed one of those pointy leaves growing beside him. He picked it and pressed it against his forehead.

 _What is going on…?_

xXx

"I heard you want to ruin the little family reunion," Maika showed up in the laundry room where Vnukinya was sorting dirty laundry into baskets. She leaned on the doorframe to the room and crossed her arms.

The younger jerked at her sudden presence behind her before shrugging and resuming work. "I only gave her some clues to work with."

"I already won this game," Fallachis reminded her. "You're making him paranoid!"

Kinya faced her and spoke with a clear and serious voice. "I don't think you play fair, Maika. And you just said you already won so whatever I told her obviously won't do much." She waited for a reaction but set back to sorting darks and whites after a moment.

Falla was silently frowning at her for another minute, wondering where their views didn't click, before speaking up again. "I might not give equal chances but the amount I sacrificed for that child-"

"Okay, but why?" Kinya interrupted her. "Why do you believe what you're doing is right?"

Although Maika was disappointed with Kinya for interrupting her, when she had been all but good in the past couple of days, she managed to smile at her anyway. "Who said anything about doing 'the right thing', Kinya? And still, I don't know another person who would go through so much trouble, time, and money just to fulfill a promise to a mere _pet."_

"She's a person."

Fallachis' eyes widened in surprise at the girl's words. "You consider him equal? To us?"

The clone blushed. "That's not what I-"

"Oh, but then we agree," Maika stopped her fumbling with a sly smile. "And in this case I really am doing 'the right thing', the generous thing, aren't I? – _'Oh, Falla, you shouldn't have!'"_ the woman waved her hand, mimicking someone flattered. Before she straightened up again, grinning at Vnukinya, "But I did."

Vnukinya would be amused but she was mostly disturbed by the amount of trouble Maika would go through to plant her narcissistic view of herself in others while also refusing to lose. "You're too much."

Falla shrugged nonchalantly. "A hundred people – a hundred wonders.

"Anyway… don't let me find you anywhere near El until they all leave. You'd regret it."

xXx

"Hey, El," Falla sat down by the troubled turtle on the stairs that lead into the garden. It was late in the evening and the sun was beginning to set behind the forest again.

"Hey…" he answered without even looking at her.

"I know we've been tiptoeing around the house a lot today. And I heard Vnukinya's been filling your head with all sorts of weird mysteries and theories, or whatever she was doing. And I'll admit one thing. We have been hiding something from you."

"I know."

"You don't sound very curious to find out what it is."

Raphael glanced at her.

"It's a surprise. – For you," she nudged him playfully.

Raph straightened up then, looking at her confused. "What?"

"You were so sick when they arrived that we all just waited for you to get better first-"

"They? Who's they?" His eyes widened.

Fallachis watched him smilingly for a moment, letting him get his hopes up before she jerked her head back toward the house. "Come on."

Raphael took her offered hand and followed her inside without a sound, like in a trance. His lips were parted, trying to find words while his eyes stared at her like a lost puppy.

 _This is a joke. This is a joke. This is a joke. Don't believe her…_

"I promised you I'd give you back," she said when they neared the foyer and Raphael could already feel there were people there. Waiting for them. His heart was racing, pounding in his ears. _It's just a trick. Just a trick!_ His skin was bristled and his mind completely foggy from sudden adrenaline.

 _It's not what you think it is!_

He realized they had already stopped and were now standing in the foyer. Raphael found himself looking across the wide room towards the front door where Hchee stood with-

With…

"Raph!"

…

His three brothers and two friends all stood there like in some kind of sick dream. Raph felt so frozen. He thought he'd never see them again. He _believed_ he would never see them again.

"Raph?" he heard that familiar voice again. It sounded so worried that he would have found it annoying at any other time, but he had been missing it too much.

Reality crashed into Raphael so suddenly and with so much force, he could feel the sweat on his palms – on the hand that held Falla's. He realized how that probably looked to them and he immediately pulled it away, taking a few steps away from the woman like he just remembered she was poisonous.

When he couldn't find the strength to move any further his brother decided to run over and crush his lungs in an embrace.

"Raph, I'm here…"

Raphael felt completely stunned but soon found himself pressing himself closer into his brother, overwhelmed by the realness, almost thinking it was too real – too fake – the way his big brother's skin rubbed against his, their plastrons touching, the way he smelled, his familiar size – just bigger enough than him to hold his frame in those rare moments when Raphael felt small and truly vulnerable. All the longing, all the desperate wishes and dreams – far too many to push into the eight long days he had spent away – we're fulfilled. They were back. They found him. How could he have doubted them? He _had_ doubted them. There were no odds in their favor…

His resolve broke, his legs gave up and brought them both to their knees. He didn't even think of caring what the rest of them would think, that Fallachis was standing right behind him watching everything.

"Leo?" his voice creaked unsurely as if afraid it was a vivid dream he could wake himself from.

But it wasn't a dream. Leonardo clutched his missing little brother closer once he heard that small voice so frightened of being hopeful, hiding him in his embrace. He was back. He was finally back. Not a dream or a projection. – Real and solid.

And Leo was there for him equally real and he would hold him as long as Raphael needed. "I'm here."

Leonardo looked more closely at his brother, and his face furrowed with worry. Something inside his younger brother seemed misplaced. Something unseen. He could see Raph felt it, too. Confusion and brokenness. Even now when it was finally over. When the waiting had come to an end.

Leo tried to rationalize it. It must be all the things Raph had felt – humiliation, lack of purpose, a feeling of being undeserving – all these things must've built up and created that emptiness. It couldn't be filled instantly, just because they had arrived.

But Raph was still intact. He was still whole. The missing part was something that was never there before and… and it would fade eventually. Of course it would.

"You're okay."

He felt his brother stiffen under him for a second before his body sagged into him even more.

"No," came a choked sob that broke Leo's heart. That was not a word he wanted to hear. – He knew deep inside that it would have been true no matter what Raph's reply had been, but Leo didn't expect his headstrong brother to admit it. Not so quickly, in the presence of everyone, even that alien.

Leonardo felt frozen. Raphael's answer threw him off. He was still partially dazed from the drug candle the alien had them all smelling, and dumbly thought everything would turn out okay. – Had it really been that horrible? Had they made a mistake to wait the extra day? He strained his muscles, crushing Raph's trembling shoulders under his stiff arms.

"I thought-" Raphael tried to whisper, but his throat betrayed him and he broke down. "It felt like forever," he said between silent sobs. "I didn't think… _…I d-"_

He felt his younger brothers' hands on his back and shoulders.

"I'm so sorry. You've been gone for days, but we just couldn't-"

"I actually thought I couldn't remember your faces. Do you understand how stupid that sounds? I'm so confused and tired," Raphael whispered suddenly wanting to tell Leonardo everything that had happened to him just for the sake of telling someone. He wanted to believe that if his big brother knew, he would know how to make things better. Fallachis had toyed with him from start to finish. She had him twisted around her finger and he couldn't even do anything about it. _"I just…"_ There was a lump in his throat he couldn't swallow down _. I was so…_ What could he tell them? _We went on walks, had history lessons, had a party…?_ The worst thing that happened was Kinya shoving a bug in his mouth. Maybe Kuzmish and Tart – but he had already shoved those two aliens somewhere to the back of his mind to be forgotten.

He felt pathetic.

He sniffed and nuzzled into his brother for what felt like minutes until he finally composed himself enough to swallow back the humiliation and focus on his family. "Okay…" This wasn't the right time or place. They had to get out of here. He had been waiting to leave this cursed house and now he finally could! And he didn't intend to drag out his exit.

"I want to go."

"Yeah, we all want to," Leonardo patted his shoulder firmly as they both stood up.

Raph saw the glimmer of relief in those dark blue eyes. His brother wouldn't care how degrading and pathetically he had acted for the last few days, he was only happy for Raphael to be with them again.

Raph wasn't left alone for a moment longer as he got crushed into a group hug by the restless youngest brothers who finally squeezed their way between him and Leo. The big brother had had his fair share with Raphael now Michelangelo hugged him around the waist while Donatello wrapped his arms around his shoulders and shell and rested his cheek on top of his head.

"I knew we'd find you! Though I didn't know I'd have to wait in line for a hug," Mikey grinned.

Donnie showed his gapped smile, too. "We missed you so much."

"I'm here…" Raph assured them and hugged back.

All of their fears had vanished when they had seen their missing brother there without a single scratch or bruise on him. He looked pale and shocked by their sudden presence but none of them could blame him for that.

After another long moment of overwhelming affection Raph heard that smooth controlled voice again, almost forgetting she was there. His skin bristled.

"I promised I'd give you back. You know I don't break promises, Raphael."

Raphael turned to her. For a moment her speech disoriented him, it sounded strange, but he composed himself and stood in front of her more firmly than he ever had before with his family by his side. He wiped a tear from his eye before speaking. "You're just letting me go?"

"I am."

So all those paranoid, suspicious thoughts that were growing through the day, they were because his brothers were here in the house, and nothing else? There was no evil layered plan? Vnukinya was just messing with his head for her own amusement like always. There were still some things that weren't making any sense but suddenly Raph no longer cared. He was going home! He could leave all this crap behind him. It didn't matter anymore.

"Raph, what the heck was that?" he noticed Mikey watching him, looking weirded out and confused, picking up on something no one else seemed to notice.

"What?"

"Did you just-"

Raphael's head was a mess and he didn't linger on the question for long as April and Casey finally made their way past the wall of turtles and to his side, too. Casey gave him another rough hug while April gave a gentler one and kissed his cheek. Raphael found himself grinning, hardly believing this nightmare would be over so quickly. They really found him!

"You were wrong about one thing, Maika," he turned back to the alien with a bit more confidence. "This was never my home."

Fallachis frowned, slightly offended. She was silent for a moment before answering. "From how you perceive it I can only agree… And it's Fallachis Maika for you now," she smirked.

"You may finally leave," she said more loudly. She looked at Hchee waiting by the door and gave her a sign that she could escort them outside.

The clone picked up the bag containing the team's space gear that they weren't using, and opened the front door for them.

"I have already contacted your guide to come get you."

"I'm going home," Raph said under his breath as he felt both Leo and Donnie eagerly lead him towards the open door. He was still overwhelmed by everything. This was stranger than any dream he had of Leonardo rescuing him like the goofy heroes in his shows. This was weird and almost awkward but it felt real. It _was_ real…

They walked to the porch when his feet halted and his smile faltered.

"No goodbye hug for Maika?"

He swung around wide-eyed, looking at her waiting parted arms. Even when she had clearly lost she still had to treat him like this in front of his family! "Never," he warned with a hateful scowl.

"I would say 'no hard feelings' but I know what you think of me. And I can't blame you for how you feel," the woman spoke, standing between the door. "So I assume you won't return for a visit?"

"Never."

"'Never' again. It is a strong word. And I hope you intend to keep it. I wouldn't want any more awkward visits.

"Let's make this official then," she lifted her hand towards him.

Raphael was slightly confused by her actions and words. He stared at her hand for an extended moment with his brothers and friends close by his side quietly waiting, before he took it firmly, her index finger actually, and shook hands with the giant.

Falla brought her other hand from a pocket of her cardigan and pushed something small into his palm before straightening back up. "Farewell, Raphael."

Raph stood in his spot watching as she closed the door in front of him, separating herself from his life forever. She didn't even want to stay and watch them leave? The door clicked into place and he breathed out not even aware he had been holding his breath.

He slowly folded open the papers she handed to him.

It was the ownership contract she had signed back on Singathef crossed out with black ink. He no longer officially belonged to her. He was no longer her little pet…

He choked up and Leonardo laid a hand on his shoulder.

"It's over."

Over.

Forever…

 **xXVXx**

See you next Thursday for the final chapter...


	35. A Promise Lasts a Long, Long, Long Time

Find story warnings and goodies here: _ht"tps:"/sta."sh/0nil8smllov_

Well, the last chapter is here and I have a new username on all my accounts. Just letting you know in case I confuse anyone. I wanted to have an original name that was close to me so I picked one of my real-life nicknames. I also had a bad conscience because people would want to google winter heaths and had to look at my turtle drawings! XD

Well, anyways...

Thank you everyone for following, liking, and, especially, commenting on this story! You've all been great and I want to thank you so so SO much for sticking around! It's been a long journey and many of you have stayed with me till this final chapter for which I am very grateful. You're all so very awesome! :D :D :D

A big thank you and BRAVO goes to _Creepypastera_ for her awesome support and amazing puzzle solving. At one point I was sure you were just reading my mind. I suspeced you figured out the whole ending but after we talked I realized you developed your own theory from all the clues you picked up on the way. I hope this ending surprises you and lives up to your expectations. :D I also want to thank _Indiana Rose_ for being my biggest supporter and making me always anxciously wait for her reviews! :D _Indiana Rose,_ since you're a guest on this site please find a way to contact me privately on any of my social media so I can thank you properly. ;)

This is it, guys! After 35 weeks I am presenting the final chapter! I'm so anxious to post this but also (maybe) dreading it. My beta _CelandineGranger_ said something like, 'I hate this ending but don't change it! I hate Falla. She's the best villain I've ever read in a fanfic!'

If I'd make this into a book I'd be one of those terrible people to put these words on the back instead of a summary. XD

I want to explain the title of this chapter a bit before I finally finish up this project that I started three years ago(! ! !). You know the saying "promise made is a debt unpaid"? (yes, you do, plus I named ch. 31 after it) Well in Slovenian we have the same/similar saying which goes "obljuba dela dolg" _(a promise makes a debt)._ The funny thing is that almost until writing the last chapter for this story (that's chapter 34, I wrote this chapter (35) almost a year before finishing the story) I thought the saying said something else. "Dolg" means "debt", but in the Slovenian dialect I speak "dolg" (a shortened version of the proper "dolgo") also means "long", and so in that sense the saying literally says "a promise lasts a long time" and I thought that was the original saying. That an unfulfilled promise is valid/unexpired for as long as until it's fulfilled - which can be a very long time... I know it doesn't make much sense but it made sense to me until recently. XD

And it's kinda what inspired this ending. But _then_ I realized I had been interpreting one of the most popular sayings wrongly! Ouch! XD

Anyway, I mentioned I wrote this chapter about a year before bringing the story to an end. Well, I still love this chapter, but once I got caught up with it it made me feel like a terrible person. - In case anyone will think I'm heartless by the time you get to the bottom of the page... I truly do feel bad. But what can you do when you create someone like Falla?

I'm also happy to see many of you very invested in the mystery of her plan. (By the time you get to the end it should all be clear but if you'll need you can contact me for further explanation.) Those of you who came close with your theories all seemed to have the same hole in your plans... Time doesn't add up. There's not enough time to make the plan work. But time is such a funny concept when your neighbors can do whatever with it.

Nervously shaking yet? Yeah, you should be. Go ahead. Read. I'll just be here packing my bag to go into hiding for a while. Sayonara! And thank you so much for staying with me on this journey 'till the end!

 _Chapter 35 is rated M_

 **xXVXx**

 **Chapter Thirty-Five**

 **A Promise Lasts a Long, Long, Long Time**

Fallachis closed the front door in front of the little aliens and, with a relieved exhale, leaned against it. She lingered on it, closing her eyes. Although Raphael's breakdown and hatred towards her had twisted her stomach slightly she couldn't help letting that go and grinning proudly, revealing her set of blunt thick fangs. _She was good._

She noticed Vnukinya standing in the foyer with a mop and a bucket in her hands, looking at her carefully. _"Happy?"_

"Isn't it great when everything works out? When everyone gets what they want?" Maika walked up to her smilingly and cupped her face endearingly like the past few days with her hadn't happened at all. She showered her with kisses. "Forget about the chores for today, kitten."

"Thank you," Kinya smiled sourly from the missed affection but soon dropped it. "I see this was worth it to you after all…"

"Definitely."

xX two days ago Xx

"I know what I must do," Falla said decisively.

Hchee stirred the boy awake so he would eat at least a bit. "You do? That was fast. – And that is?"

Maika watched the turtle's pale face grimace under the sudden touch and his head turn to the other side, revealing the large bruise over his cheek. – "What's the first rule of Fallachis? And the one Vnukinya needs to hear again?"

"Never lie when it comes to promises," Hchee recited.

She gently stroked Raph's face again and he let out a moan.

"And wouldn't I be a hypocrite if I went against my own rule?"

"So you're just going to 'do it'?" she chose her words around the wakening turtle carefully.

"That's how promises work."

"That's it? No cunning plan? Is great Fallachis Maika tiring of games?"

Falla smiled at Hchee's back, her eyes lost somewhere in her mind. "Well, what's our second rule?"

"Never let promises confine you when tricks and lies are not the same," the clone said without a moment of thought.

Falla grinned and opened her mouth to continue but saw the sick turtle moving under the bedding. So she took her clone by the wrist and led her outside the room, carefully closing the door behind them.

"I still haven't fed him," Hchee commented.

 _"Shh,"_ Falla hushed her in the hallway. "I _have_ a plan. It's a strange one – bizarre, really. But it should work. However, to avoid suspicion I'll need your help. And we'll have to move the child to a different room in order for the guest room to be free for his family."

"I already said I'll help. But with what?"

"I urgently need to travel to Rekia today, as soon as possible, but I'll need to be here when the guests arrive tomorrow. _So you, Hchee,_ will cover for me."

"You're going- You want me to pretend to be you? I don't know if I'm capable of that…"

"They're aliens. They haven't a clue I have clones so they shouldn't suspect a thing. Plus they don't know me. I'll tell you what you need to know and do and then just be yourself – because you're me anyways.

"And I'll pretend to be you and travel to Rekia and should be back sometime tomorrow night," Maika quickly explained.

"How do you expect to be back so soon? You can't go to another planet and back in a day."

"What are Rekians known for?"

"Bending the fourth dimension…"

"So I'll _buy_ some time." Falla smirked wickedly. "Their time jumps are affordable. I'll just go back a couple of days to make sure I'll come home in time."

"Okay, okay. You do your space journey. And, what, I'll hand El to the aliens? Or are you taking him with you to hide him on another planet?"

"I'm not and you won't. You'll just tell them how it is. That he's sick and needs another day or two to recover. You're _not_ allowed to show him to them however. Just stall the reunion until I get back. I will be the one giving him away."

 _"Mmhmm…"_ Hchee hummed, a bit skeptical about where her Original was going with everything. She'd think she had a few gears loose if she didn't know her so well. "I thought the plan was to try and _not_ give him away."

"I already told you I promised El I'll give him to them. I'm not breaking any promises."

"But then what's the point of traveling to Rekia? You're not making any sense! And why do I even need to pretend to be you?"

"You need to pretend so they won't be suspicious of my whereabouts.

"And you already know the point. To mess with time – or more specifically – with someone's timeline."

Hchee was frowning as Maika grinned, clearly lost in her complicated mind. "Just clear it up for me. So we can see if there are any noticeable holes in your _'bizarre'_ plan."

Falla nodded. "Okay, listen carefully-"

xXx

Maika reached the locked bedroom at the end of the hidden narrow hallway. She could hear a faint urgent voice and banging inside it and her eyebrows lowered. She carefully opened the door and found the bed empty with the bedding partly on the floor and a candle knocked over on the night stand. She stopped momentarily with her hand on the handle as her eyes landed on the turtle across the room, barely standing on his toes, and desperately banging his palm on the window glass.

"I'm up here! I'm up here!" a raspy voice cried as loudly as it could.

Falla had completely forgotten about the small window in this room that overlooked the front of the house. He wasn't supposed to even be awake! He wasn't supposed to find out!

"El, calm down."

Raphael whipped around at the sound of her voice, glossy eyes wide and disoriented. "My brothers are here!"

"Get back in bed. You're only seeing things, darling."

She immediately took hold of his wrist and the boy screamed and pulled away. It didn't change anything, as always, as she easily led him towards the bed away from the window. He still had a fever and was delirious. Maybe she could convince him it was a vivid dream.

The woman didn't expect him to bite down on her thumb in his struggle. She cried out and pulled away, and, to her horror, saw the turtle scramble through the opened doorway the next moment.

He would ruin everything!

She ran outside into the dark hallway and shouted, "The whole house is locked!" She instantly heard every door and window open or ajar snap shut throughout the house and locks snap into place.

The door behind her snapped with a bang, wind hitting her back, but the one at the end of the hallway snapped shut just after the boy passed it. No matter, he couldn't get farther than that.

A cry came from behind it to Falla's satisfaction where Raphael found himself locked out of the next hallway that lead to the staircase and to the foyer on the first floor. She still rushed after him despite knowing he couldn't escape anywhere.

 _"Unlock,"_ She pulled open the door.

She stepped into the hall and found him by the tall window, again banging, shouting to get the attention of the aliens outside with Hchee.

"Enough! They can't hear you." Fallachis walked over but stopped a few steps away, not wanting to appear threatening. He was never supposed to find out about this, but it was already too late now. She frowned, already seeing the large step back in their relationship.

"Let me out of here!"

"I won't."

 _They found him. They actually found him!_ "They're here. Let me go! You said you'd give me back! You promised! – Wh- Why are they just _standing around?"_ Raphael's voice cracked in the end as he made a careful step towards the corner of the room. His sweat-covered skin was trembling, the fading, colorful, dark bruise on his face making his eyes seem even wider as he watched Fallachis like some frightening beast from a nightmare.

He had woken up from his feverish sleep from thirst. And after he found the will to climb out of bed, he had found himself locked in the unrecognizable bedroom. He had never in the world thought that he would then accidentally see his family through the small window outside in the front yard. He had barely noticed them from the window in the bedroom because a tree crown obscured most of his view. But he saw them! He must have sensed them arriving!

"They're waiting for a car so they can leave because I _kept_ my promise."

Raphael's eyes somehow seemed to widen even more. _"…W-What do you mean- ?"_

"Take a better look, sweetie."

Raph didn't understand the game she was playing and he partly didn't want to. He had had enough of her stupid tricks. He could barely breathe or stand in his sick, weakened state but he couldn't watch her play his brothers and ruin his life. He turned his head, uncertainly, back to the window where he could see his family clearly.

 _They're leaving? They're not really leaving… "Guys…?"_ he questioned in disbelief as he finally realized they were standing by the end of the driveway, turned away from the house with Hchee keeping them company. They were obviously waiting for someone, just like Maika said.

 _What did she do to them?_

He stared at them, desperately looking for a reason for them to leave him behind and his eyes finally caught sight of another figure partly hidden by Leo and Donnie's arms draped over it. It took Raph a couple of seconds to realize he was staring at himself. The other person with them looked exactly like _him,_ the only turtle who was bare like he was, but without even a collar in sight!

In panic and confusion Raph hit his palms against the window, leaning closer to somehow get a better look and convince himself his eyes had made a mistake.

…No, it really looked like him!

"What did you do!?" he twisted around when he felt the presence of Falla closer behind him. He felt cold fear and hot anger rising up, fighting for dominance inside him while he desperately tried to stay focused. _Who is that!? Did she really go out of her way to make a clone – a doppelgänger to replace me?_ Raphael, however, knew his brothers couldn't be fooled so easily. _Could they?_

"Oh, El…" Falla smiled sympathetically and it made Raph sick how genuine and kindhearted the smile looked. "I really didn't want to part with you, but I knew how much this meant to you and your family, and the promise-"

"So you made a clone of me!?" Raph shouted, backing away from her arm's reach. His brothers would come back. He knew it. A lookalike wouldn't fool them.

"I haven't, El. – That _is_ you."

Raphael watched her kind face in horror. His heart was exhaustingly thumping in his chest. His throbbing, mushed brain didn't understand what she meant by that. That's not him. A biological clone isn't the same as him. There's only one of him! He nervously glanced back outside at his brothers and friends, and how none of them were making any signs of turning around. They were surrounding his doppelgänger and waiting in the grass.

Maika recognized the confusion and worry on her child's face. "Let me explain. It's quite a fun plan for the short amount of time I had to come up with it," she desperately tried to lift the mood, make it seem clever. She moved and carefully laid a hand on Raph's shoulder to see if he'd let her close.

The turtle didn't protest her movement and stood as still as a rock. Suddenly there wasn't enough air around him and he felt trapped in his own helpless body more than in Falla's home. He stood unmoving and waiting. He was afraid to know what she had done but also desperately wanted to.

"Once you'll grow too old for me," she gently cupped his unbruised cheek to make him look her in the eyes, "I'll simply send you back through one of the rental time portals on Rekia to the date two days ago.

"When you became sick I found out your brothers were coming here, so I left to retrieve that 'future you' who 'future me' will – _had_ – teleported back in time. And before 'she' – _I_ – had sent you back, 'she' had also taken you to a Rekian youth capsule where you were de-aged back to your exact current age. With it, all of your memories that you haven't yet made here were erased. So _that_ you," Falla pointed to the Raphael standing outside, "doesn't even realize he spent his entire life here with me. He woke up thinking it was simply the day after your adventure with Vnukinya, _which it was,_ because that was the last thing he – _you_ – could remember.

"And then, earlier, I simply gave you, completely the same, back to your brothers like nothing will ever happen." Her free hand gestured at the group outside the window now already moving aside for a white car to pull up from the road.

Raphael's jaw was hanging open as stared at _himself_ between his brothers in horror. _No. That can't be… They can't leave._ _He_ was still here! They were still leaving him here with this crazy alien! His brain couldn't comprehend that the person with them really was him. – The same person. No clone or doppelgänger to replace him. They had gotten him back. They got their brother back and they were happily reunited. – But Raphael was still standing here watching his brothers abandon him with their backs turned towards him. He wasn't going home. Not for a long time. They were leaving him at the mercy of this insane being for as long as she saw fit. For as long as she'd find joy in using him for her own twisted fairytale.

There was another olm that had stepped out of the car and was speaking with them and Hchee just to delay the inevitable.

"I went through so much trouble to pull this off. So everyone could get what they want."

Raph's feverish mind could hardly keep up with what she was saying and what was happening. He felt sick and his chest suddenly hurt ten times more as a feeling of betrayal settled there. He knew his brothers weren't abandoning him, not really, but that was exactly what he felt like. – Abandoned by the ones he had so desperately hoped would save him.

But they'll find out! They have to!

"I…" Raph stammered and turned back to Falla, doing his best to keep his voice even but failing miserably. "I'll tell them. _That 'me'_ will tell them what you did! My brothers will come back for me!"

"Oh, kitten…" Falla made a sad face and tried soothing her small troubled child with her soft voice as she cupped both his cheeks in her large hands. Raphael's breathing quickened under the light touch, his heart hammered against his plastron as panic started taking over completely.

"I told you: You won't remember anything that happened and will happen after a day ago. You will simply think you only spent a few days with me here before you were returned to your brothers."

 _This isn't real. She's lying. This is just a sick joke!_ But the look on the alien's features was so very, very real…

 _"No…"_ Again, Raph turned to stare through the window at his friends' and brothers' backs.

"NO!" he shouted suddenly.

They were already getting ready to head into the car. They were really leaving him! They were going to-! – They couldn't do that! Not to him! He was their brother! They couldn't abandon him! They were abandoning him!

Raphael's fists banged on the window as he desperately shouted trying to get their attention. "Leo! Donnie! Mikey!"

They couldn't leave without him. He didn't want to stay here! He wanted his brothers! He wanted them _now!_

"Turn around! Look at me! – Leo!" he cried for his big brother, wanting him to turn around more than anything in the world, but it didn't seem his scream even left the room he was trapped in. "LEO!" He banged on the window with all the strength he had but the glass didn't even crack under the force. Tears pricked his eyes.

They were stepping into the car. Casey and Mikey were already out of Raph's suddenly blurry vision.

"Please turn around! Please… Leo…" Tears at last fell from his wide and terrified eyes, his resolve to go home completely crumbling all over again. Was he really going to watch from afar as his family leaves him, and be unable to do anything…?

Falla laid a reassuring hand on his slumped shoulder. The boy shivered under her touch, his stomach clenched up and his lungs hurt. His legs almost gave out beneath him. _This can't be happening. It's not real! It isn't fair!_

He saw April suddenly halt, right before she would walk behind the car door, and the last of Raphael's hope burst out.

"April! – April! Yes! Just turn around! Please hear me! Please, April, _please!"_

The telepathic girl stood still, Leo, Donnie _and Raph_ passing her, but the oldest brother's hand on her back brought her back from her faint distraction. Raph stopped his banging and crying just long enough to see her smile and say something reassuring to _him, himself,_ before they all disappeared into the vehicle.

"No!" he cried hitting the window again. "Don't leave me here! Come back!"

He put all his strength into his next punch, the hit finally producing a tiny crack underneath. Blood spilled from his split knuckle but it didn't stop him from hitting the window again.

"You can't leave me here! You can't do this to me!"

Falla who had been watching the boy break down with a sorrowful expression eventually had no choice but to grab Raphael from behind before he could injure himself further. Kneeling down, she trapped his torso and arms in a tight hug. _"Shhh,"_ she cooed into his ear.

"Leo…" Raphael sobbed for his big brother as he tried to break out of the hold, his strength leaving him rapidly. "I wanna go home. I wanna go home…"

"It's okay… Don't be distressed," the alien murmured. "You still have a high fever. Don't overwork yourself.

"Be happy. Your brothers have gotten you back safe and sound like you wanted and I get to keep you, too. Everyone wins."

 _"No-"_

Raph's buckling and tense, heaving body suddenly fell slack onto Fallachis, the collar around his neck disconnecting his voluntary movements from his nervous system, making him lay lifelessly still like a broken doll in the giant's clawed hands. Still his hot tears continued to stream as he watched through blurry vision as the car drove away into the forest. _It drove away. They drove away._

Raphael wasn't accepting his unfair fate, feeling trapped in a suffocating nightmare.

Fallachis wore a sad and sympathetic expression, feeling bad she had to force her child's body into calmness. She stroked his head, "Everyone's happy now," and tried to sound reassuring, despite knowing her relentless words weren't reaching him.

A childish sob escaped Raph's tight and hoarse throat. A wet and choked sound but so broken and hopeless. He won't see his brothers ever again… Not until his mind would get completely erased, making him oblivious to all the horror that still awaited him. But it _still_ awaited him. He was still here and he was still with this monster. – They… They left him!

"You need more rest," Falla whispered into his ear and pulled them both up. She cradled Raph's limp body in her arms with ease, rocking him gently, looking at him with her soft features mimicking sympathy and compassion Raphael couldn't believe were true. Not after this! How could she do this!?

"You will understand one day. A mother's love is unconditional," she spoke tenderly and landed a kiss on his forehead.

Raphael broke down in loud, hyperventilating wails and sobs caused by panic, fear, humiliation, abandonment, desperation – all coiling inside of him, choking him, which painfully continued until eventually, after unbearable minutes of gasping for air in between sobs, he passed out in despair from the high fever and always present exhaustion, still held in Maika's false motherly embrace.

 **THE END**


End file.
